Rejected Juaben Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) nominee, Alex Sarfo Kantanka, has been granted GH¢90,000 bail by the Kumasi High Court.
This was after the two-time rejected MCE nominee pleaded not guilty to 26 charges levelled against him by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
It will be recalled that sometime in November 2021, the accused was captured in a viral video demanding a refund of monies paid to some assembly members for his endorsement.
He is said to have paid an amount of GH¢5,000 to each of the 26 assembly members but managed to get only six votes.
When the case was called on Wednesday, counsel for the accused Kwame Adom Appiah, made a passionate appeal for bail.
He claimed his client was a responsible individual with a fixed place of abode in the Juaben Municipality, so he would make himself available to the court.
Mr Appiah added that his client had denied all the said allegations when he appeared before the Special Prosecutor’s investigative team.
The case has been adjourned to 29 June for Case Management Conference (CMC).
Meanwhile, after granting the accused bail, the court directed the Special Prosecutor to serve all documents and evidence it intends to rely on for the trial by 22 June 2022.
Facts presented in court
Sometime in July 2021, President Nana Akufo-Addo, nominated the accused, Alexander Kwabena Sarfo-Kantanka, a farmer and the Chairman of the New Patriotic Party for Juaben Constituency, for the position of Chief Executive of the Juaben Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti Region.
Per the facts, in September 2021, before the confirmation or otherwise of the accused by a public election, the accused visited the members of the Juaben Municipal Assembly in Juaben; and he gifted the elected members of the Assembly GH¢5,000.00 each.
He also gifted the government-appointed members GH¢2,500.00 each to influence their conduct in the performance of their duty as voters in respect of the election in his favour.
The prosecution said the election was conducted on 29 September 2021 and the accused failed to secure the required number of votes for confirmation as Municipal Chief Executive.
The accused was again renominated for the same position by the president on 12 October 2021.
A subsequent election for the same purpose was conducted on 1 November 2021, and the accused again failed to secure the required number of votes.
The prosecution said the accused, utterly disappointed at the turn of events that his gifting of valuable consideration to the members of the Assembly to influence their vote in his favour had gone awry, went berserk and vented his wrath on the members of the assembly and angrily demanded a refund of the amounts of money gifted them.
The irate conduct of the accused was audio-visually recorded, and the recording went viral on social media platforms.
The accused admitted gifting the indicated sums of money to the respective categories of the members of the Assembly to influence the outcome of the elections in his favour.
After investigations, the accused was duly charged with the offences on the charge sheet.
