Media personality Kwame Afrifa Mensah, popularly known as Okatakyie Afrifa, and six others standing trial over their alleged role in disrupting the New Patriotic Party’s Constituency Executive Elections in the Afigya Sekyere East Constituency in the Ashanti Region have been granted bail by the Nsuta Circuit Court.
Okatakyie Afrifa, who arrived in court in an ambulance, was seen with bandages wrapped around his head and a cervical collar around his neck, and had to be assisted as he limped to and from the courtroom.
He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢100,000 with three sureties, one of whom must be a government worker earning not less than GH¢4,000 monthly.
His six co-accused — Osman Awuni, 44, a driver; Kwabena Tsikata, 36, a private investigator; Bashiru Salifu, alias Tinny, 39, an electrician; Kofi Antwi, 42, a driver; Paul Kofi Mensah, 41, a driver; and Simon Ndana, 27, also a driver — were each granted bail in the sum of GH¢50,000 with two sureties.
Leading the prosecution, Chief Inspector Owusu Kobi Moses told the court that intelligence gathered during a regional security meeting convened by the Ashanti North Regional Police Commander, DCOP Felix Apedo, on Thursday, July 9, 2026, had pointed to a vigilante group operating from Accra and Kumasi allegedly recruited to disrupt the NPP’s Afigya Sekyere East Constituency Executive Elections scheduled for Wiamoase on Sunday, July 12, 2026.
Based on that intelligence, the Regional Operations Unit and the Police Intelligence Directorate were tasked to verify the information and take proactive steps to head off any disturbance, the prosecutor explained.
According to the prosecution, at about 7:45 a.m. on election day, Afrifa allegedly led a group of about 30 suspected vigilante members to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church polling station at Wiamoase.
They reportedly arrived in a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number GN 7671-17, a Toyota Tundra pickup with an unregistered plate, and about five motorbikes.
When security personnel tried to question the group’s presence, the prosecution alleged, they turned aggressive, assaulted police officers, and disrupted the electoral process by scattering electoral materials on the ground.
Police arrested five of the accused at the scene, while the rest of the group fled. Kwabena Tsikata was later arrested after allegedly trailing the police vehicle in the Toyota Land Cruiser.
The prosecution further told the court that Paul Kofi Mensah, in his caution statement, allegedly admitted the group had been engaged by Okatakyie Afrifa to disrupt the elections because the names of some of his loyal delegates had been taken out of the electoral register.
Though he allegedly admitted to engaging the other accused persons in his own handwritten caution statement, Okatakyie Afrifa claimed it was to help serve a court order.
A search conducted during the arrests allegedly led to the recovery of several exhibits, including a spent BB cartridge from Kwabena Tsikata and Bashiru Salifu, along with a NATO pepper spray and three toffees suspected to contain narcotic substances, commonly known as “wee toffees.” A second NATO pepper spray and a live BB cartridge were allegedly recovered from Paul Kofi Mensah.
The prosecution said efforts are ongoing to track down the remaining suspects still at large.
With investigations still in progress, the pleas of the accused were not taken. The case has been adjourned to August 13, 2026, for their pleas to be entered.
