Simon Osei-Mensah is the Ashanti Regional Minister
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, has expressed concerns about the increasing spread of misinformation and disinformation in the country by some political parties in the lead up to the December polls.
Addressing the NDC’s claims of illegal security recruitments ongoing in the country, while speaking on Hello FM on Monday, September 9, 2024, Osei-Mensah stated that the reports are false and baseless.
According to him, a police swoop in Kenyase and Kwabre East resulted in the arrest of approximately 487 members of an illegal group called QNET, who were subsequently taken to a police station in the Ashanti Region for investigation.
“There are no truths to the recent reports. Politicians and some security personnel must be careful. It was part of our security measures we are undertaking in the region. There is a group called QNET banned from operating in Ghana. They were secretly operating so we went for a swoop in Kenyase, Mampongten and the Kwabre East areas where 487 individuals were arrested by the police,” he said.
He also explained that as part of procedure, security agencies such as the Immigration Service are involved in screening the individuals to determine their nationalities and other details for security purposes.
He said that the process facilitates the successful repatriation of foreign members of the illegal group.
“Once arrested, they need to be screened. We call in the Immigration Service to conduct screenings for non-Ghanaians. We then liaise with their embassies for their repatriation back to their countries. For Ghanaian nationals, we conduct thorough investigations, and those found to have committed no wrongdoing are released. That is how come the police arrested these people and took them to the station for screening,” he added.
However, Simon Osei-Mensah stated that an active-duty police officer reportedly took pictures of the members and sent them to the NDC’s headquarters, falsely claiming that we were conducting secret recruitment.
“Unfortunately, one of the police offices took pictures of the individuals arrested and sent it to the NDC’s headquarters misinforming them we were undertaking illegal recruitment. Within a short period of time, the Kwadaso NDC chairman arrived at the station to also take pictures. His phone was seized by the police and fortunately for us a call came through. The number that called him turned out to be the police officer who gave out the false information,” he added.
Simon Osei-Mensah added that the police officer has since been interdicted and security personnel have been cautioned to be careful about the information they disseminate.
“The police officer has been interdicted. We beg the security personnel, inasmuch as they are free to align and support any political party of their choice, they shouldn’t put out lies to deceive people,” he advised.
Watch the video below:
MAG/AE
