General News of Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Source: peacefmonline

Herbert Mensah Wants $7 Million

It is now clear why Mr. Herbert Kwabena Mensah is hiding behind the former First Couple and bad-mouthing President J.E.A Mills.

The Enquirer had gathered from a highly placed source that Mr. Mensah sneaked to the Presidency when the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over power in 2009 to talk to officials about the seizure of his equipment meant for the establishment of radio station by the Kufour administration.

Mr. Mensah, The Enquirer was told, demanded US$7 million from the government to withdraw a suit he had filed at an Accra High Court against the National Communications Authority (NCA).

As part of his game, The Enquirer newspaper gathered, he told officialdom that the supposed radio station had not operated for one year as expected and that when paid the US$7 million he would not pursue the court case.

Mr. Mensah recently hit town with news that he and former President Rawlings, his new found Godfather, were in possession of security tapes that point to the fact that Prof. Mills intended to spend some GH¢90 million towards the scheduled Sunyani congress to elect a flagbearer for the NDC.

President Mills in response to that allegation ordered in-depth investigations by the security agencies.

Mr. Mensah, who appeared before the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) sometime last week, he told them that the security tapes were with his ‘boss. However, his move backfired as the NCA, upon contacts from the presidency, made it clear that he has no case and therefore opposed the out-of-court settlement.

The case is still pending at the court. The Enquirer sources have it that Mr. Mensah became peeved but did not relent and continued to send emissaries to talk with officials at the castle to talk to the president.

The sources said that Mr. Mensah became agitated and initially directed his anger on the Ahwoi brothers because he suspected that they advised the president against paying him the $7 million.

Apart from the Ahwoi brothers, Mr. Mensah is on record to have also attacked an aide to the president, Mr. Nii Lante Vanderpuye.

However, The Enquirer gathered the decision not to pay the $7 million Mr. Mensah was based on the fact that no radio station could make $7 million in a year.

Again, the government helped in getting his equipment released to him to set up his station XFM when the NDC came into office. Mr. Mensah was appointed by former President Kufuor to serve on the Ghana Telecom Board but had that appointment revoked for reasons yet to be known by The Enquirer.

He was peeved and when he hatched the idea of establishing the radio station, the Kufuor government became afraid that he was going to use it to discredit it. The government at the time used subtle means to confiscate the equipment he procured from abroad.