Richard Mensah, a serial caller who allegedly made a false statement that some New Patriotic Party (NPP)functionaries were bringing in 61 jute sacks of ammunition including assorted rifles from Nigeria, has found himself in trouble.
The accused person was on Friday hauled before an Accra Circuit court for causing fear and panic with such a statement which had the potency to injure the image of the state.
Mensah, who pleaded not guilty to two charges of deceit of public officer and publication of false statement with the intention to cause fear and panic, was granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with two sureties, after Kofi Bonni, a friend of the court, had pleaded that the offences were bailable and so the court should grant the accused bail.
The prosecutor, ASP Abraham A. Annor, had objected to the bail on grounds that investigations were still on-going and therefore the accused would be needed at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to assist. But the court upheld the submission of Mr. Bonni.
However, the judge, Mrs. Patience Mills Tetteh, asked the accused to report to the BNI office everyday at 10am till the next adjourned date. Briefing the court on the case, ASP Annor said intelligence indicated that the accused, Richard Mensah, was a farmer and was a serial caller between 2002 and 2008, using the name Rose Adenta.
ASP Annor said the accused had been going round concocting false stories to incriminate others.
He narrated that on November 8, 2010 at about 10:00am, the accused went to the Deputy National Security Co-ordinator with a story backed with pictures that some NPP functionaries were bringing in 61 jute bags of ammunition, bombs and assorted AK 47 rifles including bayonets from Nigeria.
According to the prosecutor, the accused stated that during the NPP presidential primary, he was given GH¢10,000 to be given to the Western Regional Electoral officer who gave him ballot papers, some of which were thumb-printed in favour of Nana Addo, adding that some of the papers were even sent to Central, Volta, and the Eastern regions.
The accused further said that a top member of NPP, during the 2008 elections, distributed special ink to all regional chairmen of the party to deface pictures of President Mills, which polling agents of the NPP applied and later declared those papers as spoiled and rejected.
Mensah again allegedly stated that the judge who sat on the case of Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby and Kwadwo Mpiani was also bribed.
The prosecutor indicated that the accused, who had been working with Mocta Bamba, NPP national organizer, additionally stated that Bamba had been going round the various regions establishing groups and equipping them with guns, bayonets and pistols.
Mensah also reportedly admitted that he was a source of a false report in the July 31, 2010 issue of the Today newspaper with headline ‘Commandos Invade Atiwa.’
The conduct of the accused, according to the prosecutor, was intended to create fear and panic in the public and injure the reputation of the state, hence his presence to prove his innocence.
The prosecutor said efforts were being made to contact chief Nwufoh of Nigeria to find out the veracity of the arms and ammunition story, whether the accused himself was involved, as well as establish the truth of all other issues of interest.
