‘Kitchen Knife’ Coup Plotters Arraigned Before Kaneshie Court

The three people that Government picked up yesterday in connection with the alleged attempt to stage a coup have been arraigned before the Kaneshie District Court in Accra.

Dr. Fredrick Yaw MacPalm of the Citadel hospital, Alajo, alleged mastermind of the coup, was scheduled to appear before the court this afternoon, together with his alleged accomplices, Kafui Ezor, local weapons manufacturer and Bright Alan Debrah Ofosu, aka BB.

As at late noon, however, the three suspects had not yet been sent to court as announced by the government.

lawyer for Dr. MacPalm, Kojoga Adawudu had said he was not sure if the court appearance was going to come on, even as he complained that he had been refused audience with his client who was locked up in the cells of the national Headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

According to him, the BNI had told him to wait till the suspects reach court before he could be told what the charges are.

But Lawyer Adawudu, who had earlier complained that his client, a medical Doctor, had been picked up without having his Miranda rights read to him, also said Dr. MacPalm had confided in him that the security agents had discovered some four or five locally manufactured guns in his Citadel Hospital.

The security agents who had made the discovery, had stormed the hospital and walked straight to the location of the weapons and retrieved them, indicating that the weapons may have been planted.

But information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has claimed that the BNI and Police team which had carried out the arrests had also gathered, as part of the evidence, video footages of clandestine meetings that Dr. Mac-Palm and some of his accomplices had held to discuss the coup.

Yesterday’s statement by government, had said the suspects had been under surveillance for months, listing the Next Door Resort as one of the locations where meetings had been held, and at least one coup-craft presentation had been done.

Bawaleshie, near Dodowa and the Citadel Hospital were also listed in the statement as locations connected to the alleged coup plot.

This morning, in reaction to overwhelming public opinion that yesterday’s  announcement by the government was a storm in a teacup, because three inexperienced everyday guys, could not have been plotting coup, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah updated his the announcement, saying some soldiers connected to the plot had been arrested and are being interrogated in BNI custody.

Mr. Oppong Nkrumah however, said he was not aware of the total number of arrestee soldiers involved.

Since yesterday’s announcement, the public has been mocking government over the claim that a group of three men were plotting to overthrow the Akufo-Addo Administration.

An outpouring of public scorn has been mainly driven by the fact that weapons that the government claims to have retrieved from the coup plotters included a kitchen knife, and supposed smoke grenade made with ingredients including powdered pepper.

Derogation over the supposed coup plot has included a description of the coup as “kitchen knife coup,” and “pepper bomb coup.”

However, six locally made pistols (side arms) 9 AK 47 rifles and 22 IED improvised explosives have also been listed as some of the weapons that have been retrieved from the alleged coup plotters.