The Member of Parliament for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, has defended the Minority’s decision to petition the diplomatic community over what it describes as an “alarming wave of arrests” under the current government.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Probe on Sunday, September 14, Mr. Assafuah rejected suggestions that reaching out to foreign missions was a sign of losing confidence in Ghana’s legal system.

According to him, petitioning the Diplomatic Corps is a legitimate democratic tool that allows opposition parties to draw international attention to domestic concerns.

“I do not think that petitioning the diplomatic corps is a way of expressing our dissatisfaction with the legal system of this country,” he explained. “It is part of democratic processes to engage the Diplomatic Corps, bring to their attention the happenings in our internal politics, and make the Ghanaian people and the world aware of what is happening in Ghana.”

He further argued that the practice is not new, citing several examples from both the NDC and NPP in past administrations.

“During John Mahama’s administration from 2013 to 2016, there were one or two petitions to the Diplomatic Corps.

"In 2017, the NDC also petitioned over attacks during the 2016 elections. Even as recently as October 2024, former President Mahama himself met the diplomatic community to raise concerns about the fairness and transparency of the elections,” he noted.

The Old Tafo MP stressed that such actions are not intended to undermine state institutions but rather to ensure that democratic values are respected and accountability is maintained.

His comments follow a strongly worded petition the Minority addressed to the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Ghana, accusing the government of plunging the country into a “den of terror” through what it described as the harassment and arrest of citizens for expressing dissenting views.

In the petition, the Minority called on the diplomatic community to take urgent steps to encourage the government to respect human rights and uphold Ghana’s democratic principles.