One of the lawyers for the Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko says the group’s hours of meeting with the police today was nothing but a waste of time. Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, Sammy Awuku, and the Youth Organiser of the Peoples National Convention, Abu Ramadan, were arrested by the Madina District Police when they responded to an invitation for questioning on Monday. The leaders of the Alliance were invited after they organised a rally at Dome-Kwabenya in Accra without notifying the police, which the police say is in breach of the Public Order Act 1994. They were given a self recognisance bail to report on Thursday. Failure to notify police of a special public event is an offence that attracts a fine not exceeding GH¢200 or 1 year jail or both. Mr Otchere-Darko told Joy News that during the meeting with the police, his clients made it clear to the police that they could not make any statement because they were only expressing their freedom of speech. According to him, the meeting “was more or less, if you like, a waste of our time”. He averred that the action of the police amounted to taking Ghana into an era of police state in order to deprive people of their fundamental human rights. “I don’t understand why they were arrested, if this is the way to muscle those who are out there to express their freedom of speech, those who are out there to express their grievances over what happened in 2012, then I think really we should move away from that. This is not a police state and I am not so sure what the point of this invitation was.” Meanwhile, a member of the Let My Vote Count Alliance arrested for breaching the Public Order Act, Sammy Awuku says he is surprised about the news of his arrest, and also suspects that the police are being used to intimidate the group. Sammy Awuku told Joy FM’s Top Story “I was not an organizer, I wasn’t the convener, I was only a speaker at the forum.” He also indicated that at the time of leaving the police station, it was not indicated to them that they have been arrested, neither were they asked to report on Thursday. But Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, ASP Freeman Tettey confirmed to Top Story that the two were arrested and given self-recognisance bail on Monday. He accused them of failing to notify the police before the event. ASP Tettey said the police have started investigations into their conduct, but said they have officially not been charged. Nevertheless, Mr Awuku disclosed that after hours of deliberation with the Madina district police commander, the police brought out a list purported to be names of the event organizers, but some of the people on the list, he said, were not even at the gathering, adding, “it is not clear who prepared the list for the police or who is acting through the police”. He maintained: “I am not intimidated in the face of all these, I still remain resolute in the company of my colleagues. I think it is going to be a long struggle, victory is not going to come on a silver platter, but eventually there would be victory, and I think some of these errors in the police service would have to be corrected to make the service a very strong one.” However, he said he and his colleagues would respect every invitation by the police.