J.J. Seals Herbert Mouth

Credible information reaching the Daily Guide newspaper indicates that former President Jerry John Rawlings has asked his trusted confidant and businessman, Herbert Mensah to desist from making any further comments or disclosures about the infamous President Atta Mills GH�90million campaign war chest allegation. Herbert Mensah, who was virtually detained by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) on Monday in connection with investigations into the tape recordings, said the tapes were in the custody of Mr. Rawlings and allegedly directed the investigative body to seek audience with the former president if they wanted to hear the contents. Daily Guide learnt that more tapes have been made available to the former president who is said to be taking down notes to hit town with another �boom� on June 4, 2011. Somewhere last week, businessman and close associate of the Rawlingses, Herbert Mensah claimed to have listened to an audio recording together with Mr. Rawlings, in which they heard some persons close to the presidency saying a whopping GH�90million had been budgeted for President Mills� re-election as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate for the 2012 polls. He subsequently told operatives of the BNI on Monday, May 16, 2011 when he was invited there, that the supposed audio recording was in the possession of former President and founder of the ruling NDC, Jerry John Rawlings and that he was only privileged to have listened to the tape together with the former President. He directed the security operatives to go to Mr. Rawlings if they needed the tapes. Sources close to Mr Rawlings told Daily Guide yesterday that the ex-president had asked Herbert to refer all queries relating to the controversial but much sought-after tapes to him. It appears however that the case has hit a dead end in view of the various security agencies� lack of interest in pursuing the case to the doorstep of the former president, in spite of a presidential fiat for them to carry out investigations into the allegation. The BNI had earlier shown a keen interest in pursuing the case to its logical conclusion, but they seemed to have suddenly given up, days after Mr. Rawlings� name popped up, thereby feigning lack of interest. Officials of the security agency are not only tight-lipped about the case but have also not been able to extend an invitation to Mr. Rawlings for him to either produce the tape or answer questions relating to it as they did to his right-hand man, Herbert Mensah who was detained and taken through a grueling 6-hour grilling at the BNI office near the 37 Military Hospital. Some have interpreted it to be the government�s �fear� to confront an already-enraged Mr. Rawlings because they cannot risk the repercussions of inviting the founder of the ruling party to the BNI for questioning. Mr. Rawlings, who has accused the presidency of using money and intimidating tactics to frustrate his wife�s bid to lead the NDC as its flagbearer, is a firm believer in �chemical interrogation�- the act of dosing subjects with drugs that diminish their capacity to consciously evade questions, and �lie detection�-the practice of determining whether someone is lying. Each time allegations have been made against Mr. Rawlings, he has always demanded the use of these methods to establish the truth. But National Security Advisor to President Mills, Brigadier-General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Rtd) believes Herbert Mensah should be made to provide proof of his claim. Though he admitted he was yet to be updated on the case because he was outside the country, Gen Nunoo-Mensah told Daily Guide that since Herbert was the one who made the allegation known to all Ghanaians, he owes it a duty to come clean. President Mills had ordered the security agencies to investigate Herbert Mensah for alleging that he had sanctioned GH�90million to be used in his bid to retain his position as NDC flagbearer. The President, who spoke impeccable Fante on Asempa Fm, said, �Where I have reached in my career, it is not the time for me to disgrace myself. I have therefore ordered our agencies to conduct investigations into the allegation so that Ghanaians would know the truth.� President Mills said, �I have also heard about the allegation that I am going to use that huge amount for my campaign. I do not know where it is coming from. I heard they brought me a budget but nobody has presented to me any budget and I have also not given any approval. Atta Mills has no budget for campaign; it is well-wishers (people) who are bringing it. Whoever wants to bring GH�90million to Atta Mills should take it to the contractors who are working at Sofoline, Suhum and other places where projects are going on.�