Who are you? – Sam Pyne clashes with Mensah Thompson over raid at residence of ex-BoG governor

During the discussion, Mensah Thompson insisted on the former governor facing prosecution for crimes committed during his time in office, claiming he has a dossier on Dr. Addison’s infractions against the law.

However, Sam Pyne, unimpressed by Mensah Thompson’s claim, questioned the capacity in which the civil activist claims to have a dossier on the former governor.

“It is this tangent that introduces populism and hate talk that leads to people’s deaths in our discourse. You are saying you have a dossier—who are you? You, Mensah Thompson, who are you to claim to have a dossier on Addison?” Sam Pyne fumed.

In his defence, Mensah Thompson said his capacity, among other things, emanates from his constitutional rights and his role as a civil activist whose aim is to fight for the national interest.

He insisted that the printing of currency by the Bank of Ghana during Governor Addison’s tenure, without proper recourse to constitutional provisions, among other infractions, forms part of his dossier against the former governor.

“If I take the annual report of the central bank as a Ghanaian and I see that the Bank of Ghana printed money without seeking approval from Parliament as stipulated by the law, how do you question my capacity for raising these allegations against him? He has breached the law, and you don’t need gunmen to go to his home,” he stated.

On March 19, 2025, the residence of Dr. Ernest Addison, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana, in Roman Ridge, Accra, was raided by approximately 20 armed National Security operatives led by Richard Jakpa, Director of Special Operations at the National Security Secretariat. The early morning operation, which began around 5 a.m., involved heavily armed personnel, some wearing balaclavas and carrying AK-47 rifles.

Reports indicate that the team disabled the CCTV system at the property and demanded that Dr. Addison lead them to “vaults” allegedly containing cash, which he denied possessing. The search, lasting about three hours, was part of an ongoing investigation into suspected financial misconduct and mismanagement during Addison’s tenure, which ended on February 3, 2025.

However, according to Mensah Thompson, the state did not need to raid Dr. Addison’s house, as existing evidence of his mismanagement forms a sufficient basis for his prosecution.

Meanwhile, critics, including members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), have accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of using state security to harass, intimidate, and persecute appointees of the former government.