Bamba Boy Jailed

A

member of the so-called Bamba Boys, an amorphous group of able-bodied young men

brought together by Moctar Bamba, National Youth Organizer of the NPP and given

guerilla training to terrorize supporters of the NDC in the run up to

elections, on election day or during voter registration exercises has been

jailed by a Techiman Circuit Court for acts of violence.

On Monday,

September 5, 2011, Kwadwo Fosu was sentenced to a three year jail term after

admitting to the charges preferred against him.

Explaining

to the Daily Post how Kwadwo Fosu came

to be jailed, Mr. Alex Kyeremeh, the Municipal Chief Executive of Techiman, explained

that in the run-up to the 2008 elections, the accused person was among a number

of very well-built men, popularly referred to as macho men who stormed the

Techiman district to terrorize supporters of the NDC to prevent them from casting

their votes. The aim was to minimize the NDC’s vote while maximizing the NPP’s.

He

said the macho men were particularly active in the hinterlands where they

subjected NDC supporters to severe beatings in many cases. The police,

interestingly, failed to arrest them.

During

the run-off after the December 7, 2008 polls failed to produce a winner, Kwadwo

Fosu and his colleagues mercilessly beat up an NDC supporter till near death.

Again, the police failed to arrest them.

Sometime

in 2009, Mr. Alex Kyeremeh said Kwadwo Fosu met him and apologized for what he

and his colleagues did. He confided in the MCE that they were hired from Kumasi

by the MP for Techiman-North, Hon. Ameyaw Ekumfi to come and terrorize NDC

supporters to enable him win the seat.

Kwadwo

Fosu, who is well built, said since he won the election, the MP has failed to

honour the numerous promises he made to them. The macho man, who did not know

the MCE was recording his confession, asked the MCE to give him money so he and

his colleague macho men in Kumasi could work for the NDC next time round.

The

MCE said he told the young man that hiring macho men to terrorize innocent

people was illegal and therefore could not give him money for that purpose. He however

told the machoman he had been forgiven and therefore should turn over a new

leaf.

However,

during the limited registration exercise last year, the MCE said he was

surprise when Kwadwo Fosu came to his office and informed him that Prof. Ameyaw

Ekumfi had hired them again to come to the district and harass NDC supporters

to prevent them from registering. He asked for money so that he and his boys

will work for the NDC instead of the NPP. It was then that he (the MCE) realized

the macho man was incorrigible and has thus failed to turn over a new leaf.

According

to the MCE, he then decided to get the macho man arrested to ensure that he

does not operate again since his activities was an affront to all peace loving

Ghanaians irrespective of their political background. He therefore feigned

interest in the whole deal and therefore discussed the mode of payment with

Kojo Fosu. Initially, they decided the money should be deposited into his

Barclays Bank account but he later asked him to come down to Accra to collect

it.

Kwadwo Fosu, oblivious of the fact that the

BNI had been alerted came down to Accra later and met the MCE’s brother who

handed the money over to him. It was while he was counting the money that

operatives of the BNI moved in and arrested him.

In his

caution statement to the police, the macho man stated that he and others were

recruited by Prof. Ameyaw Ekumfi to terrorize NDC supporters in the Techiman

district during the 2008 elections and again during the registration exercise.

While

the macho man was in custody, Moctar Bamba called the MCE on a number of

occasions and pleaded with him to have the case dropped. When the MCE would not

yield to the plea, a lawyer was hired to defend the accused person.

The

lawyer later managed to obtain bail for Kwadwo Fosu but the macho man jumped

bail leading to the Techiman Circuit court issuing a bench warrant for him.

Later, the police arrested Kwadwo Fosu in Kumasi while he was driving Moctar

Bamba. He was remanded in police custody and then on Monday, September 5,

jailed for three years.

On

the day judgment was given, neither his lawyer nor Moctar Bamba turned up in

court to solidarise with him. As for Prof. Ameyaw Ekumfi, he never came to the

court on any occasion nor visit the accused while he was in custody.

Hiring

macho men to terrorize their political opponents has become the stock-in-trade

of Ghana’s politicians, particularly those belonging to the NPP.

Various

groups made up of macho men have been formed within this opposition party to terrorize

innocent Ghanaians desirous to exercise their right to vote unless they are

supporters of the NPP. Two of the main groups within the NPP made up of these

macho men are the Bamba Boys led by Moctar Bamba and the Action Troopers led by

Lord Commey, the Former National Organiser of the party.

Currently,

intel available to the Daily Post indicates that many more macho men are being

recruited by a retired army

officers in charge of Nana Akufo-Addo’s security.