Coup plot trial: Agordzo was taken out of context – Lawyer
Mr Martin Kpebu, lawyer for Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Benjamin Korsi Agordzo, one of the ten accused of high treason has told the High Court that a witness in the case had taken his client out of context on his contribution to Take Action Ghana (TAG).
He explained that the GHC2,000.00 ACP Agordzo contributed to TAG was for charity outreach in Agbobloshie and not meant for any alleged coup plot but Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh disagreed.
The second prosecution witness said what he knew was that it was meant for the coup plot because he (ACP) pledged his support, adding that ACP Agordzo’s contribution was towards the violent demonstration and chaos similar to the Arab Spring he alluded to.
“You have taken the tenth accused out of context on his contribution to the TAG whatsapp platform,” the lawyer said but Major General Andoh disputed the claim and said “my lord, the understanding from his discussion is what I have laid before this court”.
Asked whether the Major General was there at the time the contribution was made towards the alleged coup plot with his conclusion, he said, there were chats on the platform, even when ACP Agordzo was outside the country to that effect.
Are you aware that a number of Ghanaians have cautioned that the Arab Spring can occur in Ghana? No my lord.
“You are not aware that the sitting President have a speech in 2012 on the future of democracy and Africa and the Arab Spring?” “No my LORD, I am not privy to that”.
Counsel asked whether the witness was aware that one time flagbearer of the Convention Peoples Party, Ivor Kobina Greenstreet on March 12, 2017, cautioned that the high unemployment rate in Ghana can spell a doom for this country?
No my lord, he replied and said he was not aware of the specific pronouncement made because unemployment concerns all.
He again asked the witness whether in the field of intelligence sometimes intelligence could go wrong, of which the Major-General Andoh said yes.
“You mentioned that ACP Agordzo in his whatsapp contribution supported the alleged coup plot”, yes my lord.
Mr Kpebu questioned “But in the said whatsapp contribution it was found that ACP Agordzo was only expressing an opinion that among others, that when there were no opportunities for citizens, it can trigger an uprising.
The witness said he disagrees on the grounds that Agordzo’s first entry unto the platform, the group had a duty to change the system, talked about the fact that all the seed of Arab spring had been sown waiting to trigger and that Agordzo, proposed the formation of the security wing of TAG and indicated that his major constraint was that he is a Police Officer, adding that, when Dr Mac palm asked for the phone number of Commissioner of Police Kofi Boakye to be contacted, ACP said by the nature of discussion, he could not do that because COP Boakye was his superior and he could not suggest that to him.
The witness said he contributed GHC2,000.00 towards the agenda as well as cautioned the use of certain languages such as revolution, coup and others on the general platform and called for the need to create a separate platform for such nefarious discussion and so he supported the coup plot.
Lawyer Kpebu said “The answer given is not evident of supporting a coup, it is in the sense that the whole focus of this plot was a coup and it is stated in the whatsapp communication that TAG was smoke screen to cover the real import of the discussion.
Defence counsel asked, “are you aware that the tenth accused person has spoken publicly on the matter of the uprising? The answer was no, and stated that he was at the seminar where agordzo made those statements, I was there and he did not talk about uprising, we were discussing how to deal with the threat of vigilantism.
Mr Kpebu asked When you said you were part of it, are you referring to the speech the accused gave on October 31, 2018 at a forum organised by the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Yes my lord, the witness answered.
The introductory part of ACP Agordzor’s speech specifically stated that if Ghana thinks vigilantism is a problem, it should wait until it duly explodes, does that sound familiar? Counsel asked, Yes my lord, Major General Andoh, who is also the Chief of Staff, Regiment Headquarters, Director-General of Intelligence of the Ghana Armed Forces, added.
In ACP Agordzo’s speech he called Ghana’s vigilantism problem as Ghana’s Unexploded Political Ordinance (GUPO,) but the witness said he did not recollect, but can say Agordzo’s comments were situated in that content, Major General said.