The Communications Director of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Richard Ahiagbah, has launched a scathing criticism of President John Mahama's administration, accusing it of undermining Ghana’s democracy through what he describes as politically motivated actions against key members of the NPP.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Friday, May 23, Mr. Ahiagbah reacted to the arrest of Alfred Ababio Kumi, popularly known as Adenta Kumi, by operatives of the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), and a subsequent operation that saw a combined team of police and national security operatives storm the residence of the party’s Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako (Chairman Wontumi), to execute a search warrant.

• Read also: Joint Police and National Security operatives storm Wontumi’s residence with search warrant

While not directly blaming President Mahama for ordering the operations, Mr Ahiagbah stated that the President bears full responsibility for what he described as “an affront to democracy.”

“This is not to say that President Mahama is sanctioning this, but he has absolute responsibility for the mess that is happening,” he said.

“The affront to our democracy is being occasioned under him. We have to, as Ghanaians, speak in the strongest of terms and indicate to the President that the democracy we have entrusted to them is bigger than them. They are not the owners of it."

Mr. Ahiagbah warned that Ghana’s democratic space, hard-won through decades of political struggle, must not be trampled on by any government, regardless of electoral mandate.

• Read also: Arrest of Adenta Kumi a “disgrace to the rule of law” – NPP’s Justin Kodua

"They can not, by any design of theirs, undermine this democracy that many have fought for, and today, they are the beneficiaries of it because Ghanaians chose His Excellency John Mahama to be president.

"They must understand that it doesn’t belong to them, they don’t own it, and they can’t abuse it. What is going on is a clear abuse of our democratic right, and we cannot and should not contain it," he stressed.

The NPP communications director also stated that the issue transcends partisan lines.

"This is not an NPP matter, it is about our democracy, we all own it collectively. When they are in the helm of affairs today, they must remember - before them just got by was a government and the space was created for all manner of contentious issues to be brought to bear," he said.