Ashanti regional Police Commander, DCOP Kofi Boakye has described as a “grievous mistake”, the formation of a ‘#freeKwawKesse’ movement following the arrest and detention of the hiplife star for publicly smoking marijuana.
Fellow hiplife Artistes such as Samini, Sarkodie, Hammer of da last two, Shatta Wale, among others, joined the social media movement to bring pressure to bear on the Police to free ‘Abodam’, as Kwaw Kesse is popularly known.
“…Why should people say that they are going to form '#FreeKwawKese' group? Is he a political prisoner?” Boakye wondered in an interview he had with Joy FM’s Kojo Yankson.
“That was a grievous mistake and it will not inure to the benefit of the accused. Why him, but not the others? Is it because he is a musician?”
He said Kwaw Kesse’s arrest, apart from the offence of smoking a prohibited substance, was borne out of the “impunity” with which he committed the offence.
“Look at the act of impunity. It is not what you do, but how you do it in the world. It is not where you are, but who you are. It’s not a matter as simple as using drug but it is the act of impunity, the act of carelessness [and] the act of lawlessness,” Boakye pointed out.
“How can you go out to a pub, in front of the pub and sit down and start smoking? Even in Holland [and] Washington where it is legalised, you dare not smoke outside: you have to go to the coffee shop. Even where it is legalised, even public smoking of cigarette is prohibited how much more [Ghana]?”
He said: “Nobody went to Kwaw Kese’s room to smell his mouth and search him to arrest him. He was smoking openly: 20 metres from a police barrier and if the police have not arrested him, what do you think would [have] happened to the confidence and trust that the people have for [the] police,” he said.
“What do you think will happen to other people who have been arrested based on something that is not up to this level?”
Kesse is spending another two weeks in Police custody after he was denied bail for the second time after his arrest.
