The Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) over the involvement of police personnel in the brutality of his clients.

Counsel for the Saviour Church of Ghana, whose spiritual head is Opanin Elia Asirifi Dadieko, expressed worry over the conduct of officers of the Ghana Police Service who are mandated by the Constitution of the country to protect the rights of citizens.

In a letter dated October 2, 2013 and addressed to the Minister of Interior and to a large extent the IGP, Atta Akyea said at the end of September 2013, his client, the Saviour Church of Ghana scheduled a convention from Friday, 27th September to Monday, 30th September 2013 at Juansa in the Asante-Akyem District of the Ashanti region.

He indicated that they obtained permission from the police to organize the activity, noting that “on the night of Friday, 27th September 2013 when the religious service was ongoing, thugs wielding cutlasses, stones, pistols and gallons of petrol besieged the open-air church service, destroyed the platform, the chairs and tents, and started battering some of the church members.

Apart from that, Lawyer Atta Akyea noted that “the violent men vandalized five vehicles belonging to Opanin Elia Asirifi Dadieko.

“While this mayhem was going on…the church reported the incident to the police at Konongo and invited them to intervene, and the police showed up and virtually supervised the continuation of the mayhem and violence without effecting arrest.”

Atta Akyea therefore noted that under Ghana’s current democratic dispensation, which is underpinned by the rule of law, it is reprehensible for thugs organized by a so-called rival church to visit violence on a solemn church environment and be fortified in their impunity right under the nose of officers and personnel of the Ghana Police Service.”

He therefore appealed to the Minister of Interior and the IGP to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.