NPP activist in court for maligning Rawlings

Accra, Feb. 18, GNA - Nana Darkwa, a panellist on a morning show at an Accra-based radio station, has been arrested for alleging that last Sunday's fire that gutted the Ridge residence of former President Jerry John Rawlings was deliberate.

The arrest was effected on Thursday by personnel from the Regional Police Headquarters at the middle of the Adekyepa morning show on Top Radio. Mr Kweku Kwarteng, Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), confirmed the arrest in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday.

He said the police charged Darkwa with publishing false story with the intention of causing fear and panic to the public.

"The charge is very difficult to understand because the police did not explain what they mean by the charge or did not indicate which statement he made and what story he commented on for which he has been taken on," Mr Kwarteng said.

Mr Frank Adufati, Regional Crime Offer, who declined to comment on the issue, said Darkwa would be arraigned on Wednesday.

Angry sympathisers of former President Rawlings on Thursday besieged the premises of Top Radio to demand evidence for a statement allegedly made by the panellist that Flt. Lt. Rawlings deliberately set the fire. According to sources at the radio station, the Spokesman for the former President, Mr Kofi Adams, who was at the studio demanded proof for the claim made by Darkwa.

Mr Adams was well composed, but the supporters angrily banged at the gates of Top Radio, the sources said.

Two of the panellists, George Best and Darkwa, both of the NPP, were invited to the Regional Police Headquarters for questioning. Scuffles ensued when the two men were being taken away in a police vehicle, between the police and the mob who were demanding proof for the allegation.

Later, several policemen from the Nima Divisional Command rushed to the premises of Top Radio to prevent the destruction of lives and property.