UPDATED: You’ll suffer extremely if you enrich yourself with COVID-19 cash – Captain Smart

Radio presenter with Adom FM Captain Smart has invoked curses on people who would capitalize on Coronavirus for their selfish gains as he says calamity will befall such persons and their families.

His comment comes after conflicting reports about how musicians who performed at the launch of COVID-19 Tracker App were ‘rewarded’ went rife.

The Ministry of Communications, as part of the launch of the COVID-19 Tracker App on Monday April 13, held a concert with the motive to provide entertainment to Ghanaians.

A major fallout of that concert has been allegations of musicians pocketing huge sums of money for their performances.

The Ministry insists no money was paid to any of the artiste despite a confession by one of them of receiving ‘transportation fee’ after his performance.

“The launch was held and I must thank the musicians who also performed for free to lift up the spirit of those of us in lockdown and educate the public through music as well,” Minister of Communications Ursula Owusu noted during a briefing at the Ministry of Information Press Centre.

Wading into the controversy, Captain Smart, host of Adom FM’s morning show indicated there is something fishy about the organization of the event. He could not fathom why the minster and the musicians would have different narratives in that regard. Making a submission on his show, Captain Smart invoked curses on any person who intends to capitalize on the pandemic to make selfish gains.

“Today, I want to tell you something. I've been asked to hold my fire on this issue, but there's only one thing I want to say. Never try to enrich yourselves with coronavirus pandemic. God will punish you,” he said in local language - Twi.

“The repercussions will be huge. If someone contracts you, pay for your services and later say you took no money for the service you rendered, the fellow has cursed you. Return the cash. Why will you take money for a performance at the virtual concert only for the minister to say you performed for free?”

Meanwhile, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Agency, Richard Okyere-Fosu has said that the app has recorded huge patronage since its launch.

He told Citi FM on April 17 that over 34,000 downloads have been recorded.

“Currently as of last night [April 16, 2020], we’ve had 34,219 downloads and people are providing us with more information on symptoms of Coronavirus which will be passed on to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to follow up on”

“I want to use this medium to also appeal to Ghanaians that we need this information so we can assist the Ghana Health Service to get you the help that you need.

Rejoinder: An earlier publication said Captain Smart had cursed Ursula Owusu. The publication was not a true reflection of what Captain Smart said on his show. GhanaWeb.com apologises to the radio presenter and the minister. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.