Hopeson Adorye in handcuffs
The Dansoman Circuit Court has granted Hopeson Adorye, a prominent member of Alan Kyerematen’s Movement for Change political party, a GH¢20,000 bail with two sureties.
This was after he pleaded not guilty to one count of publication of false news.
The former New Patriotic Party (NPP) member was arrested over controversial claims that he was part of an orchestration to detonate dynamites to scare off voters in the stronghold of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to pave way for the NPP to win the 2016 election.
Mr. Adorye, who now serves as the Director of Special Duties for the Movement for Change, claimed that the dynamite explosions were intended to intimidate voters in the opposition’s stronghold of the Volta Region.
“Prior to the elections, we blasted dynamite in parts of the Volta Region, and that scared a number of people.
“When I finished casting my ballot in Tema, I drove to the Volta Region, and when I asked for the number of people who had voted and the expected number of voters, it turned out people did not come out to vote,” he claimed during an interview on Accra FM on May 10, 2024.
He was hauled before the Dansoman Circuit Court yesterday, charged with one count of publication of false news contrary to Section 208(1) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29).
The said section states that, “A person who publishes or reproduces a statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear and alarm to the public or to disturb the public peace knowing or having reason to believe that the statement, rumour or report is false commits a misdemeanour.”
The particulars of the office state that, “For that, you, on May 2, 2024 at Accra FM (100.5) in the Greater Accra Circuit and within the jurisdiction of this Court, did make false publication to wit; I engaged the services of five persons from the Volta Region to throw ‘dynamites’ along the border in Togo in order to scare voters from crossing the border to vote in Ghana during the 2016 General Elections, a statement you well knew to be false.”
Hopeson Adorye pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his counsel, Kweku Attakora Dwomoh, led by Yaw Buaben Asamoa, prayed the court to grant him bail pending trial.
He said the accused is a businessman and a teacher with over 20 years of experience, and is someone who had not been convicted of any offence in excess of six months.
The lawyer told the court that the offence preferred against Mr. Adorye is a misdemeanour, and it is punishable by a fine or an imprisonment not exceeding three years.
He added that the accused is a man of substance and has persons of sufficient means to stand as sureties for him should the court grant him bail.
The prosecution opposed the grant of bail on ground that the allegations made by the accused have to be taken seriously.
The prosecutor said the offence of publication false news is of public interest especially when the allegations were said to have been made in an election year.
It was the case of the prosecution that the accused would interfere with investigations if granted bail, hence ought to be remanded.
The court presided over by Halima Abdul El-Lawal Basit, granted him a bail of GH¢20,000 bail with two sureties, one of whom is to be justified.
The court gave the prosecution three weeks within which to file disclosures for the trial. The case was adjourned to June 26, 2024.
The prosecution’s brief fact states that on May 21, 2024, the attention of the police administration was drawn to a video recording that had gone viral on social media involving Hopeson Yaovi Adorye.
“In the said video, the accused was seen and heard saying among other things that prior to the 2016 general election, he took it upon himself to prevent Togolese coming to vote in Ghana,” it stated.
The brief fact states that the accused, in his statement which was made on air on May 2, 2024 at Accra FM (100.5) on a show dubbed, ‘The Citizen Show’ hosted by Nana Otu Darko, Mr. Adorye said he engaged the services of five persons from the Volta Region to throw ‘dynamites’ along the border in Togo in order to scare voters from crossing the border to vote in Ghana during the 2016 general election.
“On May 22, 2024, the accused was arrested for investigation and in his investigation caution statement, he admitted the content of the video and claimed that it was not dynamite that was used but rather fire crackers,” the prosecution’s brief fact stated.
It added that investigation into the allegations is still ongoing.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak