EOCO defends attempted arrest of Manhyia South MP as Bar Association raises concerns

Pinned summary · as of 05:19

John Darko, Suame MP and Legal Counsel to the Minority in Parliament alleged that Nana Agyei Baffour Awuah, the MP for Manhyia South, was the target of an attempted arrest at the Accra High Court complex on 23 September, carried out by officers from the anti-graft agency EOCO (the Economic and Organised Crime Office), though the operation was abandoned. EOCO says it acted lawfully after he ignored two invitations sent in February, whereas the MP says nothing addressed to him personally ever reached him and that he feared for his safety when he drove off. Lawyers, opposition politicians and the Majority Leader have since criticised how the operation was carried out.

What we know

• EOCO officers tried to take Mr Baffour Awuah into custody at the Accra High Court complex on 23 September 2026, shortly after he had appeared as defence lawyer for Salomey Baffoe Awiti, a senior nursing officer who is charged with abetting the spread of false news tied to the Ghana Jollof TikTok account. The arrest did not go through.
• Video from the scene shows a woman who names herself as working for EOCO and who instructs the MP to go along with her to its premises. He declined and drove away, and EOCO personnel followed his vehicle for a short distance.
• In a statement issued that day, EOCO confirmed the attempt. It said the move belonged to an ongoing investigation and was a legitimate step towards getting him to attend, following two invitations in February 2026 that went unanswered. Officers broke off, the agency said, because the situation escalated and continuing could have put the public at risk.
• EOCO also said it had picked out two people on video who, it alleges, helped the MP leave, and that it was weighing what lawful action to take against them.
• The agency said it respects the constitutional privileges of MPs. “Membership of Parliament does not, by itself, bring an investigation to an end or place an individual beyond the reach of the law”, EOCO said, adding that the inquiry stays open while it reviews the video evidence. EOCO added that Mr Baffour Awuah later went to the precincts of Parliament, which was on recess, to seek sanctuary.
• Mr Baffour Awuah says that when he asked the woman for identification and an arrest warrant, she produced neither, and that she turned down his suggestion that he follow in his own vehicle and wanted him in the agency's car. He says he feared for his safety, drove to Parliament, and has described the episode as an attempted kidnapping.
• The letters at the heart of the disagreement were sent to the senior partner of the law firm Sarkodie Baffour Awuah & Partners. The firm answered that its senior partner had become an MP and that the matter had gone to the Clerk of Parliament for advice, and EOCO's reply dated 27 February turned down that route.
• EOCO's statement did not describe what it is investigating. Mr Baffour Awuah says the inquiry relates to legal work his former firm did on behalf of a client, SIC Life Savings and Loans.
• The Ghana Bar Association (GBA), in a statement dated 24 September and signed by its president, Efua Ghartey, and secretary, Kwaku Gyau Baffour, voiced grave concern. It said nobody is above the law, but that enforcement involving lawyers acting for clients must respect constitutional guarantees and professional independence, and it warned that bypassing those safeguards can look like intimidation and chill the legal profession.
• The GBA also pointed to videos in which another lawyer, Enoch Anhwere Afoakwa, says a woman hit him, and said EOCO later confirmed she was one of its officers.
• Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin criticised EOCO for overreach, questioned whether an investigative body should move on someone straight after court proceedings, and urged President John Dramani Mahama to bring his appointees to order. The Minority also said it would bring the issue before the full House and file a formal complaint before the parliamentary privileges committee.
• Lawyer Martin Kpebu and Majority Leader James Agalga both said EOCO should have made its request to the Speaker, with Mr Agalga calling the approach unprofessional. Former Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu described the attempt as unjustified and dangerous for democracy.
• The NPP's Ashanti Regional branch called the attempted arrest unlawful, and party executives in Manhyia South called on EOCO to apologise during a news conference held on 28 September, a Monday.
• Ms Baffoe Awiti has been held since her arrest. She was remanded for two weeks by the Adentan Circuit Court, and her High Court bail application was adjourned to 24 September after prosecutors asked for more time to reply.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  EOCO says it invited the MP twice in February and that he did not turn up. Mr Baffour Awuah, his lawyers and his allies reject that: they say the letters went to the firm's senior partner in that capacity, that he was never personally summoned or under investigation, and that the firm dealt with the matter. The two accounts have not been reconciled.
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  The MP's lawyers say a firm representative sat with EOCO investigators on 4 March, 18 March and 30 April and handed in a written statement, and Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu likewise said the firm's representative appeared three times. Reports also differ on when the firm answered the first letter, with The Press Radio giving 13 February and Onua Online and The Vaultz News giving 18 February. These details come from the MP's side and EOCO has not been reported confirming them.
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  The physical details of the encounter are contested. Mr Baffour Awuah told Onua Online the woman gripped his wrist, while Kwaku Sintim-Misa (KSM) told MyNewsGH the footage shows no such grab and called the kidnapping suggestion bogus. Professor Ransford Gyampo, chief executive of the Ghana Shippers Authority, said the officer was manhandled and nearly run over, and Kwaku Ansa-Asare, who used to head the Ghana School of Law, argued she should face contempt proceedings. Each account rests on a single report.
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  Sources close to the MP, and later the Minority and the Ashanti NPP, alleged that the operation was aimed at silencing his public defence of Ms Baffoe Awiti or was linked to the row over cocaine seizures. The Minority stressed that it could not say what EOCO intended, and the agency's own statement ties the move to its investigation and the February invitations. No evidence of a political motive has been produced.
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  The Manhyia South NPP executives claimed that 31 party members have been arrested since the current government took office. The Ghana Report noted that the claim was not independently established at the press conference.
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  Mr Baffour Awuah denied claims that GH₵2.2 million of a GH₵5 million sum was paid to him or his firm as legal fees, said no judicial sale of a property for GH₵24 million took place, and rejected any transfer of GH₵6 million to himself or the firm. Former Tamale Central MP Inusah Fuseini alleged the MP took fees above the allowed limit in one transaction, and Akwatia MP Bernard Bediako Baidoo said investigators are examining financial records. The Press Radio also cited a GhanaWeb report of an alleged GH₵600,000 transaction. None of these claims has been established, and The Press Radio noted that no finding of criminal liability has been made against him.
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  Mr Baffour Awuah told MyJoyOnline that SIC had put roughly GH₵3.5 million into Equity Savings and Loans, that the debt grew to roughly GH₵14 million with interest, and that a settlement would recover about GH₵8 million including fees. He said nothing improper occurred. EOCO has not commented on this account.
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  Legal opinion on the protection MPs enjoy is divided. Mr Kpebu cited Article 117 of the Constitution and Section 20, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu cited Articles 117, 118, 122 and 123, and Mr Ansa-Asare cited Act 300, while MyNewsGH noted that Article 117 covers only the situations it lists. Madina MP Francis-Xavier Sosu said turning down an invitation does not by itself justify an arrest, and the Minority said Speaker Alban Bagbin was never told of the plan. These are the speakers' own readings.

Why it matters for Ghana

The row tests where an anti-corruption agency's powers meet the protections given to MPs and to lawyers doing their job in court. The Ghana Bar Association warns of a chilling effect on the profession, which matters to anyone who relies on a lawyer to defend them. How the agency and Parliament settle the questions of invitations, warrants and the Speaker's role will shape how future summonses to public figures are handled, and the detained nurse's bail case is caught up in the dispute.