Barker-Vormawor tweet: IGP's response not what I expected – British High Commissioner
The British High Commissioner to Ghana, Harriet Thompson, has expressed surprise at the reaction of the Ghana Police Service to her tweet about the arrest of one of the conveners of the #FixTheCountry movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, for a road traffic offence.
According to her, her tweet has been misconstrued and she had no intention of interfering in the work of the Ghana Police Service.
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Nonetheless, she said she would prefer to settle whatever misunderstanding privately with the police rather than discuss it in public.
Read also: 'Di wo fie asɛm' — IGP tells British High Commissioner
Her response comes after the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, in his four-page letter addressed to her on May 20, described her tweet which read, "Oliver Barker Vormawor, convener of #FixTheCountry movement, arrested again, I understand for a motoring offence on his way to court. I’ll be interested to see where this goes…”, as "biased" and "uninformed."
Dr Dampare in his letter also noted that her action contravened the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 which enjoins diplomatic missions not to interfere in the internal affairs of their host country.
Read also: IGP’s 15 questions to British High Commissioner
Speaking on Accra-based television station, GHOne, Madam Thompson noted that the IGP overreacted in his response to her.
“To me, it feels like a stretch. It feels like me saying I am interested in something is a long way from people saying we must take to the streets,” she said.
“It is clear from the reaction that it has not been received in the way that it was intended. I wasn’t expecting a response from the IGP at all,” she added.
Read also: IGP displayed arrogance, intolerance in his response to High Commissioner - Sammy Gyamfi
Addressing the contents of the tweet, Madam Thompson said, “Commenting on something that is of great interest to a lot of people in a country is not interfering in the affairs of that country. There are other articles of the Vienna Convention that could be relevant in this case.”
She noted however that she was going to put the incident behind her and continue to work cordially with all Ghanaian institutions.
"I'm looking forward to move beyond this incident and continuing to work with the Ghanaian police force as well as the very many other institutions that we enjoy very good relationships with."