Paramount Chief of Wassa Akropong in the Western Region, Omanhene Tetre Akuamoah who has been criticized for forcing a journalist with Rivers FM to kneel in the sun for over three hours said he has not committed any crime.
According to him, he only punished the journalist who disrespected the traditional authority to serve as a deterrent to others.
The woes of the Rivers FM journalist begun after a Chinese national, Jiang Gen Hai allegedly shot and killed a local last Friday.
This generated pandemonium in the town when the youth demanded the Chinese miner be handed to them to avenge the death of their friend.
So during the mêlée, Larry Saint posted a voice note on a Whatsapp platform for journalists accusing the chiefs of rather protecting the Chinese at the expense of the indigenes.
The audio unfortunately reached the chiefs who immediately summoned Larry to the palace where he was made to kneel for over three hours.
The action taken by the chief has incurred the wrath of many especially journalists who believe the punishment is an infringement on the right of Larry Saint.
But in a quick rebuttal, Omanhene Tetre Akuamoah Sekyim on Adom FM’s Midday News Friday, said he has no regrets ordering the journalist to kneel down.
“I believe in free speech but it has a limit and I think the journalist was not fair to make such remarks which undermined my authority” he stressed.
However, the Wassa Akropong chief said he never ordered the journalist to kneel in the sun as he wants to world to believe.
Omanhene Sekyim also described a false claims he intends to banish the Rivers FM journalist.
“I didn’t threaten the journalist like he is saying and so he should stop saying those things. I urge Ghanaians to go and listen to the tape and realize how bad the journalist sounded. I don’t want to make any further comments since the police is investigating the issue” he stated.
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