A GLICO worker in Bolgatanga, Thompson Amartey, has been arrested by the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Command for offensive conduct. According to reports, Amartey, who is also alleged to be a pastor, claimed that Zumah Tii-roug, the Secretary of the National Patriots against Injustice and Corruption Ghana (NAPAIC-Ghana), attempted to extort money from him. This claim led to the arrest and detention of Tii-roug on charges of attempted extortion. However, Amartey has not disclosed the amount of money he claimed Tii-roug tried to extort from him.
Tii-roug was detained by the Upper East Regional Police Command for more than 48 hours before being granted bail on April 16, 2023. He was subsequently taken to a Circuit Court in Bolgatanga on charges of attempted extortion. Despite opposition from the police prosecution team, Tii-roug’s lawyer successfully filed a bail application, and he was granted bail in the sum of Gh¢20,000 with two sureties.
Meanwhile, Amartey has been detained in the Bolgatanga District Police Station for illegally confiscating Tii-roug’s motorbike after Tii-roug spotted him with a married woman and sought to caution him against meeting married women alone in isolated places. Tii-roug has denied any attempts at extortion and said that he only met with Amartey to offer him advice.
“All in all, this incident is a clear reminder of the importance of maintaining professionalism and good conduct in our workplaces and communities,” said a spokesperson for NAPAIC-Ghana. “We call on all Ghanaians to uphold the values of integrity and transparency, and to work together to combat corruption and injustice in our society.”
Below is a copy of the press statement issued by Tii-roug on Friday following the arrest of Thompson Amartey:
PRESS STATEMENT
Ladies and gentlemen from the media, good afternoon. It is my hope that you will disseminate this story to the general public.
On the 13th of April, 2023, I went to the Upper East Regional Police Headquarters at about 10:00 am to retrieve my motorbike which was taken by one Detective Corporal Razak after I had lodged a complaint with the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Command that one Amartey Thompson, a so-called pastor and an agent of GLICO, had forcefully impounded my motorbike.
The reason for forcefully impounding my motorbike was based on a piece of advice I gave him to be mindful of the way and manner he reportedly prays for married women in the bush, praying for them in isolated places and eating with them at such places. I cited an example which happened on April 12, 2023, where he was spotted in a bush with a woman who is married to a bank worker. He denied having met with any married woman in a bush on the said date.
I showed him a photograph of someone sitting with a woman in a bush and I asked him to confirm whether he was the one or somebody else in the picture. He confirmed he was the one in the picture sitting with a woman. He became uneasy and furious after seeing the picture. Then, he asked that I delete the picture from the phone. I told him not to worry as deleting the picture would not solve any problem since I had already forwarded it to two people. Then, he asked me to forward it to him, which I did.
Even after I forwarded it to him, he still was not comfortable. Then, he called a friend of his to join us. The person he called was an unfamiliar face. His friend supported him to impound my motorbike. He asked me to go and bring the two people to whom I said I had forwarded the same picture. When I ignited my motorbike to proceed from the scene with an assurance that I would return to the scene with the two people whom he demanded to see, he and his friend held back my motorbike and forbade me from leaving with the motorbike. To avoid getting myself involved in any violence or breaching the peace, I left the scene without my motorbike. Immediately after I left the scene, I reported the matter at the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Command.
The police led me to the scene and we were told by the owner of a bar which is located around the scene that Amartey had called his friend who is a policeman (Detective Corporal Razak) to come for the motorbike. When I went to the Upper East Regional Police Command (where Detective Corporal Razak is stationed) on Friday April 14, 2023, to retrieve my motorbike, I was told that Amartey Thompson had alleged that I attempted to extort money from him after showing him a photograph of himself and the woman. I was asked to write a statement and I was subsequently detained in police cells. I was granted bail and put before court where I was charged with attempting to commit crime to wit extortion. I was again granted bail by the court. Since the case is yet to commence, I would not like to open my defence in this press statement but to ask the general public to trust that justice will be served.
Meanwhile, following the report I lodged on Thursday April 13, 2023, at the Bolgatanga Divisional Police Command against Amartey Thompson, the police have arrested Amartey Thompson and he is currently in police cells on charges of offensive conduct. Hopefully, he will be arraigned before court in due course. I am using this medium to ask my detractors and their paymasters, who are trying hard to smear me with the same mud which has rather been on their own image, to take note of the current development and the revelations ahead.
Let me conclude with the words of Max Romeo: “The more you look is the less you see. The less you look is the more you see.”
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
…………………………………….
Zumah Tii-roug
Secretary, NAPAIC-Ghana.
(0244242748)