Coup Plot: Main Suspect Deny Allegations

The main accused person in the plot to destabilise the country and topple the government, Dr. Frederick Mac-Palm has denied all the allegations levelled against him.

Dr. Mac-Palm who spoke for the first time during a committal process at the district court in Accra on Tuesday said he and the other accused persons at no point in time discussed and plotted a coup.

Narrating how the group, Take Action Ghana, which the prosecution has described as the focal point for the case, was established, Dr Mac-Palm told the court that he trained as a medical doctor in the US and returned to Ghana in 2009 where he established a hospital at Alajo in Accra.

The location of his hospital, he said made him treat a lot of vulnerable patients stricken by poverty, compelling him to offer free healthcare.

Based on this, he decided to form the group which he named Take Action Ghana.

According to Dr. Mac-Palm, he named it as such because he realized the disparity between the poor, average and above-average citizens.

He added that he saw their plight as one resulting from governance.

In January 2019 he and others decided to embark on a medical outreach across the country.

This according to the medical doctor, unfortunately coincided with the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence.

Dr. Mac-Palm said he and some of his members got worried about the violence and the way it took a political twist.

In a related development, all the other nine accused persons have denied any involvement in a plot to destabilize the state.

The accused persons all took turns to address the court as part of the committal process in court on Tuesday, March 3, 2020. Background to destabilisation plot

Dr. Mac-Palm is among nine persons facing charges of treason felony.

With regards to Dr. Mac-Palm, security officials said they seized several weapons, ammunition, and explosive devices at the Citadel Hospital, at Alajo and at another location at Kpone Bawaleshie near Dodowa in Accra.

Other persons standing trial are Col. Samuel Kodzo Gameli, W.O.2 Esther Doku, Lance Corporal Ali Solomon, Lance Corporal Albert Baba Ibrahim, Lance Corporal Sylvester Akapewon, Bright Alan Debrah and Corporal Seidu Abubakar.

The accused persons are said to be part of a group known as the Take Action Ghana (TAG).

The group, according to the prosecution, planned to organise a series of demonstrations and also to destabilize the country.

They reportedly put together a plan to target some key installations including the Jubilee House, the Ghana Broadcast Corporation, the National police trading school, 37 Military Hospital and Burma Camp.

Their arrests, in September 2019, followed 15 months of surveillance and gathering of evidence on the activities of the suspects.

The government also said meetings between the civilian suspects and serving military personnel with a view to executing a plot to obtain weapons, take over key installations, and secure funding for the purported coup “were closely monitored.”

---citinewsroom