Police at the Bolgatanga District Police Station has arrested a blogger with online news portal, Harmattan Gh.
Joseph Dumolga was arrested on Wednesday, December 29,2021 and provisionally charged with “offensive conduct conducive to the breach of peace” contrary to Section 207 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) after he constantly criticized organizers of beauty pageant, Miss Upper East.
In a series of posts on social media specifically Facebook, the blogger called out organizers of the beauty pageant for allegedly failing to honor promises to winners of the previous editions of the contest.
Prize for the winner of last year’s edition of the contest included an all-expense paid trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. But a year down the line, the organizers are yet to honor their pledge to Vera Kosah who emerged winner of the contest last year.
This, according Joseph Dumolga, is an indication that the Miss Upper East pageantry is a dubious scheme organized by people whom he described as fraudster to dupe unsuspecting girls in the region.
His harsh criticisms, however, did not go down well with the organizers who say such utterances could cause them public disaffection and bring the credibility of the contest into disrepute. They, therefore, proceeded to file a complaint with the police in a bid to stop him from further making such damning publications about the beauty pageant.
The police, after receiving the complaint, combed the Bolgatanga Township in search of the blogger to arrest. They, however, could not find him until he turned himself in on Wednesday. He was subsequently arrested and criminal charges slapped against him for merely criticizing the organizers.
Joseph was later granted bail and the complaint against him withdrawn after he was made to retract the publications and apologized to the organizers.
