Hiplife Musician and Actress Nana Akua Amoah aka Mzbel is very grateful to God Almighty and everybody who supported her during her trial time in court through to the court judgment.
However, Mzbel is not entirely fulfilled as far as her court issue with the police and how the media handled it is concerned.
Mzbel has, for the first time after the final judgment, poured her heart out on what really happened and how thing got as far as they did. In an exclusive with Peacefmonline.com, the “Sixteen Years” singer said, all her woes were due to a reckless conversation she had with a particular journalist.
Mzbel said, after staying in Police cells for four days, she and two others who were accused of assaulting and obstructing a police officer from executing his duty, were finally granted bail. She disclosed that even though she was advised not to do any media interviews until the court hearing was over, she went against all that and had a phone conversation with Doreen Avio of Hitz FM, which almost landed her in jail.
According Mzbel, Doreen called her as a friend “She called me as a friend to sympathize with me and even condemned the behavior of the police, saying she had a similar experience with the Police. Doreen even went ahead to share her sad experience with the police before she asked me what was going on with my case”.
Mzbel admitted that she shared her experience with Doreen and unknowingly gave her details of her court situation but before she realized, what she thought was a friendly off-record chat with a female friend, was being aired on Hitz FM, even though Doreen never told her she was recording her.
Mzbel told Peacefmonline.com that what made matters even worse was that, all this happened before her first court hearing and that voice played on air was used against her in court. She said this became a whole new issue in court and it also created problems between her and her lawyers. This, she said prolonged the court hearings and Mzbel believe it defiantly contributed to the judge’s final judgment.
She has not been able to forgive herself for making such an expensive mistake and she feels betrayed and deceived by Doreen’s behavior. She said she has confronted Doreen and the management of Hitz FM, but she has really not had any tangible response from them. “All I need from Hitz FM is a public apology on Hitz FM, the same platform on which my voice was played”.
Mzbel feels the media have not been fair to her even though she has no problem with any media person. She said even though she is very free and open to everybody, the media always report on stories about her without contacting her.
Mzbel feels the slightest move she makes spreads like wild fire, and the press has succeeded in creating a wrong impression about her, not just in Ghana but internationally because unfortunately most of the hyped news are geared in the negative direction, adding that there is a positive side of her which the media have ignored or refused to see.
“Where was the press when I was honoured with the “Portrait of Excellence” award for my contribution to women freedom in Ghana”, she asked.
She emphasized that apart from this, she has won several awards internationally, sold a lot of records worldwide, done several charity works, but the media only see Mzbel when she has a problem with people.
She said contrary to people’s perception that she enjoys negative publicity, she doesn’t. “I don’t enjoy negative publicity at all. Sometime I cry when I read some stories about me and feel so let down. I don’t have any problem if they want to report negative stories about me but my only problem, is they should contact me for my side of the story”, Mzbel stressed.
The Motor Court in Accra on Tuesday April 10, 2012, convicted Mzbel and two others for traffic-related offences. Mzbel, known in private life as Nana Akua Amoah, Maxwell Mensah a businessman, and Emmanuel Edem Lordzoh, a student, were consequently fined a total of GH¢1,600 or in default face various terms in prison.
It will be recalled that the three were arrested in June 2011 and put before court for assaulting and obstructing a police officer from executing his duties. They had pleaded not guilty to the offences but changed their pleas when they appeared before the court in Accra on Tuesday.
Watch video of Mzbel new single “Jump On My Bonnet” below: