The Minority Caucus in Parliament has condemned the arrest of former Asokwa Member of Parliament and ex-Managing Director of GIHOC Distilleries Company Limited, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, describing it as political persecution and a deliberate weaponisation of state institutions against political opponents.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, and signed by Minority Leader Osahene Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the NPP Minority demanded that the Attorney-General and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) immediately provide the legal basis for Mr Jumah’s arrest and clarify the specific charges against him.
Maxwell Kofi Jumah was arrested by EOCO operatives at his residence in Accra on Tuesday, April 28, 2026. The arrest followed a raid on his private residence in Atonsu, Kumasi, on April 14, 2026, during which officers allegedly seized personal documents, including a laptop and keys to his property, while he was not present.
The Minority described the raid as unlawful and a violation of Article 18(2) of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy. They noted that no formal charges were communicated to Mr Jumah or his legal team at the time of the raid, and his lawyers have since lodged a formal complaint with the Asokwa Divisional Police Command.
The caucus argued that the sequence of events — the raid, seizure of personal property, and subsequent arrest — forms a deliberate pattern aimed at intimidating and weakening the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as it holds the Mahama administration accountable.
The Minority further expressed concern over what it described as procedural improprieties, noting that EOCO is yet to clarify the specific charges or legal basis for the arrest and detention.
“The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice must immediately clarify the precise legal basis for Hon. Kofi Jumah’s arrest and the charges, if any, preferred against him, consistent with his right under Article 14(3) to be brought before a court within 48 hours of arrest, or released,” the statement demanded.
The Minority also called on the Executive Director of EOCO to publicly account for the legal authority under which his officers entered and searched Kofi Jumah’s private residence in his absence on April 14, 2026, and to explain the items seized during the operation.
Additionally, the caucus urged the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to take immediate cognisance of the alleged pattern of politically motivated arrests targeting NPP-affiliated persons and to initiate an independent inquiry into the selective and partisan deployment of state investigative agencies. They specifically mentioned the failure to investigate the “Big Push” sole-sourcing scandal at the Ministry of Roads and Highways, where 81 sole-sourced contracts worth over GH₵73 billion were allegedly awarded within seven months.
The Minority stressed that while it does not shield anyone who has genuinely broken the law, the selective targeting of NPP figures while major scandals involving huge sole-sourced contracts go uninvestigated amounts to arbitrary and discriminatory conduct prohibited under Article 296 of the Constitution.
The statement reaffirmed the Minority’s full solidarity with Maxwell Kofi Jumah, describing him as innocent until proven otherwise before a competent court, and pledged to deploy every constitutional, parliamentary, and legal resource to defend him and protect Ghana’s democratic order.
