A member of Parliament’s Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, Nana Agyei Baffuor Awuah, says that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is not opposed to investigations but to what it describes as the use of bail conditions to intimidate opposition figures.

His comments follow President John Mahama’s remarks that all ongoing investigations are evidence-based and not politically motivated.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Top Story on Friday, July 17, Mr Awuah argued that the opposition’s concerns stem from how security agencies have handled bail conditions in several high-profile cases.

According to him, the NPP has never objected to investigations or criminal proceedings involving its members, provided they are conducted fairly and in accordance with the law.

“The case has not been made by the opposition that they are averse to being investigated or criminal proceedings. The case that has been highlighted from day one has been the use of bail to oppress members of the opposition,” he stated.

Mr Awuah cited the bail conditions imposed on the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, as well as the recent GH¢50 million bail granted to former Executive Secretary of the Inter-Ministerial Coordinating Committee on Decentralisation (IMCCoD), Dennis Miracles Aboagye, as examples of what he described as punitive bail conditions.

He argued that bail should serve only to ensure that a suspect is available to assist with investigations and not as a form of punishment.

“When there was a purported investigation of GH¢55 million, we all know it is right that the grant or refusal of bail is not supposed to be used to punish a person. It is only at that stage to ensure that when you need a person for investigations, he'll be available,” he said.

“But for this government, when dealing with members of the opposition, they have used bail as a weapon to punish, intimidate, or oppress members of the opposition.”

Mr Awuah maintained that many opposition members have been investigated without public objection, adding that concerns usually arise only when the bail conditions imposed become contentious.

“There have been a lot of members of the opposition who have been investigated. If you've observed, you don't hear about them. You only hear about them when a grant of bail by security agencies becomes an issue,” he noted.

He also questioned what he described as the manner in which the courts have handled cases involving opposition figures.

According to the lawmaker, the President’s dismissal of the opposition’s concerns suggests he has not paid sufficient attention to developments surrounding recent investigations.

“If the President says that what we have been saying is without justification, then very respectfully, it is clear that the President has not been paying attention to what has been happening,” he said.