Dasebre sings

The sweet songs of highlife musician, Daasebre 'Ahonfe' Gyamenah is being played in every home, beer bar and restaurant at Koforidua in the New Juaben Municipality, as news of his acquittal on cocaine-related charges continue to dominate discussions.

Daasebre, who was arrested almost a year ago for an unsubstantiated drug offence in the United Kingdom, was acquitted on Friday May 11, after almost a year of legal battle in a British law court.

Madam Agnes Gyamenah, a school teacher, who described herself as an aunt of the musician, revealed that Daasebre took advantage of his year-long incarceration in British prisons to take computer classes and she was expecting him to collect his certificate at a passing-out ceremony in prison before heading home.

On his expected arrival in Accra, the excited aunt said it might probably be on Tuesday (today) because his acquittal was on Friday and it was most probable that the necessary processing of papers would be made before he was handed over to the Immigration for his home-coming.

"We are sure by Tuesday or Wednesday, Daasrebre will arrive in Ghana so we are also making feverish arrangements to give him a heroic welcome,” Madam Gyamenah said.

Last Sunday, family members in Koforidua where the musician hails from, attended a special church service to thank God for the release of their 'loved one' after an intensive legal battle.

While it was believed that Daasebre would be sent down by British Immigration authorities today via a British Airways flight, family members were planning a special welcome for him.

However, Daasebre's friends, relatives and sympathisers from Koforidua, Kumasi and Accra would be hiring buses to the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to give a heroic welcome to their dear one after he was wrongly accused of trading in narcotic drugs.

"We are designing special 'T' shirts with the picture of Daasebre in the front and the inscription, 'Daasebre is Free' and the inscription 'Akwaaba Daasebre' at the back," an aunt told DAILY GUIDE on Sunday after it enquired about the preparations being made to welcome him.

"We were in church in our numbers but Daasebre who is a Muslim, would definitely thank his God in an Islamic way," Madam Agnes Gyamenah said at their Koforidua Sordae (Ahenborom) family house.

Sources say that the testimony given by Nana Kweku Duah popularly known as 'Tic Tac' in Ghanaian showbiz, was key to the release of Daasebre.

Tic Tac told the Isleworth Crown Court in London last Wednesday as a prosecution witness that, Daasebre Gyamenah was a well-respected person with a successful musical career and that it would be impossible for him to abandon his successful career to engage in drug business.

Tic Tac was said to have given a very favourable account of Daasebre which convinced the newly-constituted jury to set him free.

Apart from the prosecution witnesses which included Kwabena Donkor, a businessman in the UK, the British intelligence was in Ghana to conduct research into the background of the musician.

They were said to have visited Daasebre's new house at Koforidua, which was about 80 percent complete.

The mansion located at Korley-Nkwanta in Koforidua spoke volumes of the modest lifestyle of the Koforidua-based musician.

Daasebre, who lived with his father at Kokomlemle in Accra, recently relocated to Koforidua.

Daasebre was said to be the bread winner of his extended family members especially his nephews and nieces; so the family was devastated when he was arrested for an alleged drug offence.
"We know our son would not do that because we always advice him against vice.

This predicament is purely the handiwork of a friend who wanted to see his downfall and we hope when he comes back he would be very wary of friends he moves with," an uncle told the DAILY GUIDE.

Daasebre was arrested on June 29, 2006 by British Immigration officers, for allegedly carrying 770 grammes of cocaine in his baggage when he was travelling to London to look for sponsorship and a good recording studio in the United Kingdom to record his music.

Consistent finger print tests proved that he was not the one who put the cocaine in his baggage.

Source: Daily Guide