Mr. Herbert Mensah, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kumasi Asante Kotoko is paying a very high price of being a friend of former President Jerry John Rawlings.
His father the well known BA Mensah owner of PT Tobacco health’s is said to have deteriorated after drugs needed to keep him alive and which is usually imported by his son Herbert, was seized by agents of the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) at the Tema Harbour last month.
DAYBREAK scouts at the Tema Harbour say the imported drugs in a box were seized by officials of NACOB under the suspicion that it contains illegal drugs. A bird in the nation’s security set up however told DAYBREAK that the seizure was just to show Herbert Mensah where power lies as he is neither under suspicion or ever has he been held as a suspect.
A source at Herbert Mensah’s radio station told DAYBREAK that the drugs are to Herbert’s father what oxygen is to a man after he had stroke two years ago. The source further told DAYBREAK that Herbert Mensah is so furious that he is ready to deal with all those connected with the seizure should his father die as a lack of drugs.
The high handedness of some members of the Mills/Mahama government has sent shock waves through some of the NACOB officials.
Mr. Mensah was arrested by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) in the run up to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) special delegates’ congress in Sunyani after he revealed on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show that he and former President Jerry Rawlings had discovered from security tapes obtained from the Castle that President Mills planned on spending about GH¢ 90 million on his flagbearership campaign.
Herbert Mensah was initially asked to report to the BNI's Headquarters at Ridge, but when the former CEO of Kumasi Asante Kotoko arrived, he was hurriedly whisked away to another BNI facility, the regional office close to the 37 Military Hospital, for interrogation.
All his mobile phones and other communication equipment have been seized. Mr. Mensah has become the closest pal of former President Jerry Rawlings accompanying him on his international travels.
Sources within the NDC say the former Kokoto boss played an instrumental role in the NDC wining the 2008 general elections however he seems to have fallen out of favor with the government as a result of his strong defense of the Rawlingses one of which led to a clash between him and Ato Ahowi, a presidential advisor. DAYBREAK tried contacting Mr. Mensah for his version of the story but his known number to our editor was all off.