The Executive Director of the Alliance For Social Equity and Public Accountability (ASEPA), Mensah Thompson, has been detained at the Teshie District Police Command in Accra.
He has also been charged with publication of false news after he honoured an invitation by the Police Command.
According to the police, a formal complaint was brought against the suspect by the Ghana Armed Forces regarding allegations that members of the president’s family travelled with the presidential jet to UK for shopping.
He is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Thursday, February 10, 2022, at the Kaneshie District Court.
Mensah Thompson, who leads ASEPA as an anti-graft and social advocacy group had alleged that that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo together with his relatives had used the Presidential aircraft of the Ghana Armed Forces for a shopping trip to the United Kingdom in December 2021.
That was not his only claim, he alleged that, the trip between December 20 to 30 was also joined by the president’s friends.
He thus demanded explanations from the National Security, Ghana Armed Forces and the Defense Ministry over the use of the presidential jet.
But the Ghana Armed Forces debunked the claims, discredited the reportage and asked the general public to disregard it.
In an interesting twist however, Mensah Thompson backtracked on his claims and rendered an unqualified apology for peddling the false claims.
“In the same medium I made the earlier publication, I withdraw the publication pending an official response from the GCAA. I unreservedly apologise to the Ghana Armed Forces if their image was in anyway affected by my publication. We shall put out for your consumption the response to our request from the GCAA records of the Falcon 900-EX.”, he posted on social media.
The New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) National Youth Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye demanded the arrest of Mensah Thompson over the allegations.
