KMA BOSS RAIDS RADIO STATION

Armed Police Officers at the premises of Kapital Radio

The abuse of executive powers by some government appointees in recent times was taken to another height yesterday, when the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) also Mayor of Kumasi, Samuel Sarpong, stormed the premises of Kapital Radio, a local private radio station, and demanded the arrest of two persons who were alleged to have made derogatory comments about him.

The KMA boss reportedly, invaded the premises of the radio station during their flagship morning programme, Daybreak Kapital, with a team of security personnel, and demanded the release of the two people who were participating in the morning talk show, as invited guests.

The victims, Kwabena Konadu aka Master Kwabena, and Kwabena Ofori, who reportedly appeared on the show as affected residents of the ongoing decongestion exercise being embarked upon by the KMA, were alleged to have made comments, out of frustration, that appeared to have denigrated the KMA and the City Mayor.

A few minutes after those comments were made the Mayor reportedly stormed the station with eight KMA city guards in a bid to cause the arrest of the two people.

A staff of Kapital Radio, Erastus Asare Donkor, told The Chronicle in an interview, that upon reaching the premises of the station, Sarpong attempted to head straight to the studio, but was prevented by the producers of the programme, because they claimed it was against the policies of the media house to allow people to invade the main studio without permission.

Erastus said when they prevented the Mayor from entering the premises of the studio, he demanded that the two people who passed those comments against him be released to him, but the Programmes Manager of the station, Nana Boakye Yiadom, Erastus claimed, begged the angry Mayor to restrain himself, and allow the programme to end, so that the issue could be sorted out.

But, the enraged Mayor, who was bent on arresting his critics, made a phone call to the police, precisely the Buffalo Unit, to quickly furnish him with three armed police officers to make an arrest.

Some minutes later, Erastus said, a team of police, made up of about personnel, trooped in with a police pick-up truck and waited outside the studio annex, very close to the main studio.

After signing off the programme, the police, together with the KMA, arrested the two people, handcuffed them, and sent them straight to the Central Police Station.

When asked about the nature of the comments the two people were said to have made against the Mayor, Erastus said the victims, out of anger, cursed him.

Some of the comments, according to the Kapital Radio News Editor, made by the two gentlemen were 'If the KMA Boss passes over any river, something should happen to him; If Hon. Sarpong thinks he is tough, he should send the decongestion to Alabar, Suame and other places,' amongst others.

Another victim, Issah Mohammed, allegedly threatened to set the KMA building ablaze if the assembly did not extend the decongestion to other areas of Kumasi.

After those comments were passed, the host of the show, Kwadwo Akoto Boateng, asked them to retract and apologise, which they subsequently did.

After the effecting the arrest, the KMA Boss reportedly stated that he had monitored Kapital Radio for the past two weeks since the exercise commenced, and realised that the station had made it an agenda to denigrate the assembly and criticise the manner in which the exercise was being conducted.

He allegedly said he knew the two people in the studio very well, and was aware of their political inclinations, since he had been with them for a long time, even before becoming the Mayor of the city.

Meanwhile, the police in Kumasi have confirmed the incident, but were not ready to divulge the details of it as at the time of filing this report.

The officer handling the case, Detective Corporal Kankam, told the paper he was yet to submit his report, and prefer the necessary charges against them.

When the paper arrived at the Regional Police Headquarters, the two suspects were still in the custody of the Buffalo Unit, whilst the vehicle of the City Mayor, together with a police pick-up truck, was leaving the security premises.

Meanwhile, the Spokesperson to the Kumasi Mayor, Clement Kegeri, has rebuffed the allegation that his boss invaded the premises of the radio station, describing it as a reckless and unfounded assertion.

Kegeri told the paper in an interview that his boss was doing his normal morning routine of scanning radio stations to monitor their talk shows to abreast himself of issues concerning the metropolis, when he heard someone threatening on Kapital Radio that he had given him a one-week ultimatum to extend the decongestion exercise to Alabar, failure of which, he would set the Assembly building on fire.

Being aware of this information as the Metro Security Chairman (METSEC), he quickly drove to the police station and made an official complaint.

Kegeri said the City Mayor was asked by the police to accompany them to the station so he could identify the culprit.

'So, my boss only accompanied the police as a complainant to the station. He did not take the initiative, so it would be wrong for anyone to say that he has invaded the radio station,' he noted.