Kofi Jumah granted bail, and prepared for court

Mr. Maxwell Kofi Jumah, former Minister of State and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asokwa, arrested by the police on Saturday for disrupting public peace and also destroying electoral materials, has been granted bail.

Police Inspector Godwin Ahianyo, of the Ashanti Regional Police Command Public Relations Unit, briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, said the former MP was granted bail on Sunday evening at about 6:05 p.m.

“We have officially charged him and he will appear before court on Monday,” he disclosed.

The GNA gathered that Mr. Jumah’s personal assistant, Charles Oscar, alias “Ghana beye yie,” who was also arrested, would be arraigned for disrupting public peace.

Mr. Jumah, a losing contestant of the Asokwa Constituency New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Primaries, was arrested at the Kumasi Youth Centre, venue for the elections, when in a rage the former MP seized the voters’ register and then tore it into pieces.

This was to register his displeasure at what he described as attempts by certain elements within the party to change the voters’ register in favour of his competitor, Ms. Patricia Appiagyei, the incumbent MP and winner of the primaries.

The former MP’s actions led to a temporary hold-up of the elections, as the venue was thrown into a state of confusion with supporters of both contestants heckling each other.

Mr. Jumah was refused bail on Saturday, spending the night in police custody, in spite of efforts b y the NPP leadership to get him bailed.

Some of his supporters wailed uncontrollably as the police after his arrest handcuffed and whisked him away to be charged.

Source: GNA