The Office of the Secretary to the President has described as erroneous reports that the police complaint lodged against the National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi is borne out of revenge, malice or is politically motivated.
According to a statement from the President’s Secretary’s Office, the complaint was lodged with the CID on November 28, 2019, following the publication and dissemination of a forged memo purportedly seeking to direct the Chief of Staff to convene a cabinet meeting.
The said forged memo was published with extra commentary on the Facebook page of Sammy Gyamfi.
The Statement maintains that Sammy Gyamfi’s arrest was pursuant to a warrant and he was cautioned on the offences of possession of forged document and publication of false news with the intent to cause fear and alarm.
The President’s Secretary’s Office in the statement insisted that a crime has been committed and no one should accept that as normal.
“The attention of the Office of the Secretary to the President has been drawn to various commentary on social media that suggests that the complaint lodged against Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress, by the Secretary to the President, with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), is borne out of revenge and/or malice or is politically motivated. That suggestion is erroneous and should not be entertained at all,” the statement added.
“The complaint was lodged with the CID on November 28, 2019, following the publication and dissemination of a forged memo purportedly signed by the Secretary to the President, seeking to direct the Chief of Staff to convene a Cabinet meeting. The forged document was published, with extra commentary, on the Facebook page/account of Sammy Gyamfi,” the statement said.
Sammy Gyamfi’s offence
Sammy Gyamfi was arrested at the premises of Accra-based UTV at Abeka Junction on Monday, January 27, 2020.
According to the police, he was cautioned for allegedly possessing “forged document and the publication of false news with the intent to cause fear and alarm contrary to section 166 and 208 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (ACT 29) respectively.”
He was later granted bail with two sureties – to be reporting once every week at the CID headquarters.