ET Mensah: Detained & On Hunger Strike

Former minister for sports, Enoch T. Mensah, has been detained on suspicion of instigating violent protests following a soccer stampede in which 126 people died, his lawyer said Sunday.

The lawyer said Enoch T. Mensah, who was sports minister under former President Jerry Rawlings, had been questioned in connection with a protest in a suburb of the capital Friday during which angry mobs attacked a police station.

Police have been widely blamed for triggering Wednesday's stampede, Africa's worst soccer disaster, by firing teargas into Accra's packed national stadium at the end of a game between Ghana's two leading teams.

A state memorial service for the victims was scheduled to be held Sunday afternoon. The streets of Accra were calm ahead of the service.

Government officials have warned opponents of President John Kufuor, who replaced Rawlings after winning elections in December, against fanning trouble amid mounting public anger and anti-police demonstrations.

Friday's protest took on a political tone, with youths in the suburb of Nima chanting for the return of Rawlings.

Soldiers fired warning shots and teargas to disperse the protesters after they attacked a police station, blocked roads and set fire to kiosks and tires. Some carried pictures of Rawlings.

National Security Adviser Joshua Hamidou told Reuters some informants had linked Mensah to the protest. ``Some people in Nima have told us that he was behind the demonstration,'' Hamidou said.

Lawyer Brahm Larbi said Mensah had presented himself voluntarily to the Bureau of National Investigation Saturday after hearing security forces were looking for him.

He said Mensah, who has not been formally charged, had denied any link with the protests, but remained in custody.

Government officials have said they suspect the opposition of instigating the demonstrations.

``The evidence emerging suggests, unhappily, that a few irresponsible extremists may be attempting to give an ugly political color to this national tragedy and exploit it for their personal agenda,'' Interior Minister Malik Yakubu Alhassan told a news conference Saturday.

``We want to assure them and the nation that the security forces are fully alert. We are determined to maintain a constitutional government and the rule of law,'' he said.

Saturday, police Inspector-General Ernest Owusu-Poku publicly apologized on behalf of the force. He has set up an investigation into the 70 officers responsible for security during the match between Accra's local team Hearts of Oak and arch-rivals Asante Kotoko.

E.T.Mensah On Hunger Strike.

The detained Former Youth and Sports Minister E.T.Mensah has embarked on a hunger strike in protest at what he says is the fraudulent charges leveled against him by the Bureau of National Investigations, BNI. - Mr. Mensah has been in detention since yesterday for allegedly being responsible for organizing some youth from Nima and Maamobi who have vowed to avenge the death of their colleagues during the stadium tragedy to destroy property at Nima. - He has denied the allegations and explained that a group of youth only hailed him when he visited the 37 Military hospital as a member of the Parliamentary delegation. - The angry youth on Friday burnt kiosks, blocked roads and clashed on several occasions with the police whom they accused of being responsible for the stadium disaster. - The former minister who is also the youth organizer of the NDC has described himself as a prisoner of conscience. - Meanwhile, thousands of people are expected to gather at the forecourt of the State House in Accra this afternoon for the interfaith memorial service for victims of the last Wednesday’s Stadium disaster in which 126 football fans lost their lives. - The service climaxes a three day national mourning declared by President Kufuor last Friday for the nation to grieve with the bereaved families.