MUSIGA Begs For Mzbel

In her second day of detention on a motor court order, sexy hiplife songstress Nana Ekua Amoah aka Mzbel has attracted the intervention of the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA).

The umbrella organisation of local musicians is pleading for clemency on behalf of the lady who has frequently stirred controversy for her provocative dressing.

She was arrested by personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service after she had allegedly assaulted a uniformed cop last Saturday at Kinbu in Accra.

Mzbel, together with Maxwell Mensah, a driver, and Emmanuel Edem Nordzor, a student, were charged before the magistrate court presided over by Emmanuel Plange Brew, on various motor traffic offences and assault.

Mzbel denied the charges and claimed that the police officer had crossed her path, explaining rather that the cop assaulted her personal assistant and driver on the aforementioned day.

She also claimed that the police assaulted her to the extent of exposing her breasts.

MUSIGA President Diana Hopeson, who is spearheading the 'free Mzbel crusade', asked the police to temper justice with mercy, while speaking to Joy FM yesterday, claiming that her colleague could have been in a hurry for an assignment when the incident took place.

What had happened, she observed, could damage the fortunes of the musician, a reason which should inform the tempering of justice with mercy.

She pleaded: 'You don't throw the bathwater away with the baby. As artistes most of the time, one may be in a hurry going for a programme.'

Mzbel re-appears Friday at an Accra Motor Court to answer charges of assaulting a police officer and obstruction of justice, preventing a police officer from performing his lawful duties, and allowing an unlicensed driver to drive her, among other charges.

With the police intent on carrying on with the prosecution, it is not known what effect the clemency plea by MUSIGA can do under the circumstances.

There are mixed reactions among Ghanaians regarding the musician's brush with the law. While many want the law to take its course, given the level of indiscipline on the roads, others consider the police action highhanded.

DAILY GUIDE gathered that behind-the-scenes pleas from family members to have the case settled out of court did not prevent the court action.

A police source whispered to DAILY GUIDE that even while the plea was ongoing, the suspect reprimanded the MTTU personnel via a radio interview in Accra.

Mzbel had told Joy Fm that her personal assistant was sitting in the driver's seat, after the driver had got out to pick something; and then the policeman appeared, asking for the driver's licence- thinking the person sitting in the seat was the driver.

'I told them that he was not the driver and the driver came in, provided his licence and the other policeman instructed us to go. As soon we moved the car, the other one dived on the bonnet of the car so we stopped. I rolled down [my glass] to ask him why he did that and he grabbed my driver's suit, struggling with him,' she explained.

She accused the police of assaulting her personal assistant and her driver.

Mzbel said the police acted in an unusual manner- jubilating and rejoicing over the mistreatment meted out to her, her driver and PA – and later rushed to the media to tell lies.

By A.R. Gomda