Tuesday, May 17, 2011

External powers are influencing BNI – Herbert Mensah






Ally to the Rawlingses, Herbert Mensah has criticized President Mills’ governance style saying the system does not give enough room for people to come out to air their views without fear or favour.

Mr. Mensah was on Monday May 16 detained by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) who questioned on him about the now infamous GHS 90 million tapes he claimed was in his possession.

About a week ago, Mr Mensah told Adom FM that, he and former President Jerry Rawlings had listened to tapes obtained from the Castle on which President Mills campaign team were discussing using GHS 90 million of state funds to fuel his flagbearership bid of the NDC.

That statement generated heated controversy with denials from government officials and NDC supporters who called for Herbert Mensah’s head; even President Mills weighed in on the matter calling on the National security apparatus to investigate the matter to ascertain the truth in the matter.

National Security Advisor, Brigadier General Nunoo Mensah, also stated that they were interested in the allegations and may invite him to assist them in investigations.

The culmination of all the controversy was Mr Mensah’s invitation to the BNI offices and his subsequent detainment. He was released later in the evening on Monday.

But speaking on Dwaso Nsem on Adom FM on Tuesday, Mr Mensah alleged that there are external forces interfering in the work of the BNI.

He said what he observed when he went to their offices proved that there were some outside influences hampering their work citing the long hours he was detained there even though there was no formal invitation, the absence of his lawyer among others as examples of interference and influence.

Mr Mensah recalled that in former Presidents Rawlings and J.A. Kufuor’s administration, he used to take on the system and made very serious comments about perceived corrupt officials even calling for their arrest sometimes but there was not a single occasion where he was invited for questioning by the BNI.

He said matters could have taken an unpleasant twist on Monday if he wasn’t associated with the Rawlingses.

The former Asante Kotoko Chairman explained that he did not receive any formal invitation but only got a call from the BNI boss, Yaw Donkor to come to their offices in Accra for discussions about the GHC90 million tapes.

According to him, he was interrogated the first time before four senior BNI officials came to the conference room for further questioning after which he asked them to call his lawyer if things were going to be formal but they kept insisting that it was informal.

Mr Mensah said just when he was about to leave, the officials told him to fill a formal document about the interrogation but he declined.

He alleged that the officials forced him to change his statements but he refused to do so.

Meanwhile Mr. Mensah will be making another appearance at the BNI headquarters today.

Story: Samuel Mantey/Adom News/Ghana

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