A New Patriotic Party (NPP) activist has publicly admitted that the allegations and insults he directed at Charles Bissue during the 2020 political tensions in Tarkwa-Nsuaem were false, and has thanked the former presidential staffer for choosing forgiveness over a path that could have ended his career before it began.
Timothy Gariba, who now lives in the United States, made the admission in an audio recording made available to GhanaWeb on October 21, 2026, six years after the controversy first erupted in the Western Region.
What Gariba now says happened in 2020
Gariba was a member of the NPP's Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency Communication Team in September 2020, when he was arrested and detained by the Western Regional Police Command following a complaint filed by Bissue, who was then a presidential staffer and the NPP's Western Regional Secretary.
In his new account, Gariba recalls being involved in attacks against Bissue, Gifty Eugenia Kusi and Moses Parker, the owner of Medeama Sporting Club, among other prominent figures. He said those involved were encouraged to target influential or outspoken individuals perceived as unsupportive of former Member of Parliament George Mireku Duker, whom Gariba supported at the time.
He has now acknowledged that the allegations he levelled were lies.
“I believe that if Bissue had pursued the criminal aspect of the matter, I could have faced a conviction with potentially lasting consequences for my employment opportunities and ability to travel abroad,” Gariba said.
He was, he admits, younger then. He says he has matured enough to appreciate the consequences of his actions.
A dispute that went beyond insults
The arrest was never simply about insults. Bissue's personal aide, Kweku Sagoe, explained at the time that the complaint centred on an audio recording allegedly circulated by Gariba on social media in which he threatened Bissue.
The detention triggered protests from NPP members and sympathisers who accused Bissue of undermining the party in Tarkwa-Nsuaem and claimed he was backing an independent parliamentary candidate against Mireku Duker. They demanded that then-President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo remove Bissue from his position at the Presidency, and threatened to suspend campaign activities if their demand was not met.
Bissue, through Sagoe, rejected the allegations, describing them as unfounded.
How a chief's palace became the setting for forgiveness
Gariba's latest account adds new detail to how the matter was eventually defused. He said he was initially advised not to honour a police invitation because senior police officers had allegedly already been contacted, and he followed that advice until an arrest warrant was issued.
“Mireku Duker organised party supporters to accompany him to the Western Regional Police Command in Sekondi after the warrant was issued,” Gariba recounted.
He was then advised to seek the intervention of Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhene of the Essikado Traditional Area. At the traditional ruler's palace, Gariba was asked to present drinks and a sheep to Bissue as a customary gesture of pacification.
Bissue declined the items. He asked Gariba to take them away, explaining that he did not want to destroy the future of a young person.
That single decision, Gariba said, has stayed with him ever since, and it is the reason he has chosen to speak out again, this time with gratitude rather than grievance.
Why this matters for Ghana's young political actors
Gariba's warning to young Ghanaians is blunt. He urged them to avoid insults, threats and false allegations against political opponents, and cautioned that assurances of protection from influential individuals may not shield anyone from the consequences of their actions.
He encouraged young people to build their reputations through truth, respectful political debate and service to their communities. For a generation increasingly mobile, ambitious and connected to opportunities abroad, his point lands hard: a criminal conviction, he noted, would have followed him for life, closing doors to employment and travel that he has since walked through.
There is a lesson here for the parties themselves. Internal disputes resolved through chieftaincy and personal restraint rather than police cells and public ultimatums preserved not just one young man's future, but some measure of the party's dignity in the Western Region. Political organisations that equip their youth wings with responsibility rather than weaponry of words will keep more talent, and lose fewer of their brightest to the kind of regret Gariba now carries.
A familiar name in a different fight
Charles Bissue has remained a figure of public interest well beyond the Tarkwa-Nsuaem dispute. He is the former secretary to the disbanded Inter-Ministerial Committee on Illegal Mining, and according to The High Street Journal, he sued the Office of the Special Prosecutor, alleging that his rights had been violated by an investigation into him, by the decision to declare him a fugitive from justice after he failed to respond to notices, and by an alleged arrest warrant.
The contrast is striking. The same man who once chose mercy over a criminal case that could have derailed a young activist's life has himself spent years contesting the power of the state. Whatever one makes of his legal battles, the generosity he showed in 2020 has now been publicly confirmed by the very person who attacked him.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Timothy Gariba?
Timothy Gariba is an NPP activist who served on the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Constituency Communication Team in 2020 and now lives in the United States.
Why did Gariba attack Charles Bissue in 2020?
Gariba said he and others were encouraged to target influential individuals perceived as unsupportive of former MP George Mireku Duker during the constituency's political tensions.
How did Charles Bissue respond to the attacks?
Bissue filed a police complaint over an alleged threatening audio recording, but later declined customary pacification gifts at the Essikado palace, saying he did not want to destroy a young person's future.
What does Gariba want young people to learn from this?
He has urged young Ghanaians to reject insults and false allegations, warning that promises of protection from powerful figures will not save them from real consequences.