Emmanuel Kwakye Asare
A Circuit Court in Accra has denied an oral application made on behalf of Emmanuel Kwakye Asare aka Akyenkwaa Nana Kofi Asare, a presenter with Wontumi TV, following unsubstantiated claims he made concerning the tragic helicopter crash that killed all eight persons on board on August 6, 2025.
The accused, who is before the court for publication of false news, had claimed on his programme on August 9, 2025, that President John Mahama knew about circumstances surrounding the crash that threw the entire nation into mourning.
“If your family member is part of those who died, you must hold President Mahama responsible because he is aware of everything,” he claimed.
He was subsequently arrested and has been charged with one count of publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic to the public, contrary to Section 208(1) of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960, (Act 29).
The 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.”
Court documents indicate that the claims which are false, generated uproar within a section of the public, leading to the arrest of the accused, based on intelligence.
His lawyer, Enoch Anhwere Afoakwah, in an oral application, urged the court to grant him bail pending the trial.
This was opposed by the prosecution led by ASP Emmanuel Haligah, who said investigations were still ongoing.
The court, presided over by His Honour Samuel Bright Acquah, in his brief ruling, indicated that he had no reason to refuse the application for bail, but indicated that he has a judicial precedence in his court to follow.
He recalled the case of a young man who was brought to his court for insulting the then President Akufo-Addo, and how he had to remand him for some days “for tempers to cool down.”
It was in that regard that His Honour Mr. Acquah refused the bail application and remanded Emmanuel Kwakye Asare into police custody to reappear on August 20, 2025.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak