W. O. Samuel Mensah, the bodyguard of Ex-president Rawlings, who recently travelled with him to Halifax in Canada, was arrested on Thursday 18 October 2001, according to the Ghanaian Voice.

The paper reports sources close to ex-president Rawlings’ office, as saying that W. O. Mensah’s room was searched in his absence and a binocular, which belongs to him, as well as other items, which he claimed did not belong to him, were taken away.

He was dumped in BNI cells without the knowledge of Mr Ellis Owusu Fordjour, the Director of BNI, according to the paper, which also says it gathered that Mr Fordjour got to know of the arrest on Thursday 18 October 2001.

He also did not know the reason behind the arrest. However, he allowed W. O. Mensah to be bailed on the afternoon of Friday 19 October 2001.

According to Rawlings’ aide, Mr Smith, “the main design of these arrests and psychological harassment is to provoke the ex-president but he is absorbing the whole situation in his strides”, the paper said and recalled that first it was an attempt to enter the ex-president’s house leading to the arrest of Odinga, followed by the arrest of Patrick Kuntor, W. O. Addotey Quarshie and W. O. Dan Budu.