Mpohor fake kidnapping: Connect FM presenter granted bail

A Sekondi High Court has granted bail to Paa Kwesi Simpson, a radio presenter with Connect FM in Takoradi, in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties.

He has been asked to also report to the police once a week to help in ongoing investigations.

Mr Simpson and one other person, Stephen Kumi, were arrested and subsequently remanded for their involvement in a fake kidnapping incident, of one 26-year-old woman at Mpohor.

They were charged with the publication of false news with the intent of causing fear and alarm to the public contrary to the Public Order Act, and false publication of news through an electronic device contrary to the Electronic Communications Act, 775 of 2008.

Meanwhile, Stephen Kumi, the alleged boyfriend of Stephanie Kumiwaa, who was also remanded for two weeks with the same charges is still on remand.

In a November 3, 2021 statement from the Takoradi Police Divisional Command, it said it was investigating an alleged case of the kidnapping of a 26-year-old woman named Stephanie Kumiwaa at Mpohor.

The victim is said to have informed her boyfriend of visiting on October 17, 2021, but didn’t show up.

The police also added that their checks at the Mpohor Police District Command indicated that no such case had been reported.

The said boyfriend of the victim was arrested by the police, together with Paa Kwesi Simpson, a broadcaster with Connect FM, who is said to have published the story of the missing victim on Ghanaweb.

The two were later remanded for two weeks into police custody by a court in Takoradi.

However, Media General Ghana Limited, owners of TV3 network and Connect FM subsequently indicated that its lawyers were going to file a notice to appeal a decision by a Circuit Court in Takoradi, to detain its presenter, Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson.

Paa Kwesi Simpson and Stephen Kumi are to reappear in court on November 16, 2021.