Arguably Ghana’s all time finest music export, Gemann Geeman aka Ghana Michael Jackson, became notable for his exceptional dancing skills, which shot him into the global spotlight, but his fame was short-lived.
Geeman was a Ghanaian dance champion way before many were born, somewhere in the 70s, with a replica of the style that brought Michael Jackson to global attention, Geeman won the best dancer of the world later and went on global tours with his MJ dance and music style. Geeman still remains one of Ghana’s finest musical exports today.
Geeman decided to go into movie production with the help of his friend, Jagger Pee, who was a popular actor at the time. Jagger Pee was also one of Ghana’s fast-rising actors with many movies to his name during that era.
On a day yet to be known, Jagger Pee visited his friend Gemann Geeman, who was expecting a visitor, Nadia, a lady friend who wanted to be an actress. They were three in all at Geeman’s house; Jagger Pee, Geeman himself and another lady, Vic.
Nadia arrived in a Taxi and told Geeman that the fare charged was 3000 cedis, today’s 30 pesewas, but the driver disagreed and argued that the agreed fare was rather 4000 and not 3000 Cedis.
Geeman insisted that he’d pay 3000 and threw the money into the taxi. The driver took off and made returned few minutes after, but this time, to collect the sand made by Geeman’s footprint for ‘juju’.
Irritated by the driver’s act, Geeman went to his room for his pistol while his friend, Jagger Pee held the driver to prevent him from leaving. Geeman returned with the pistol and went towards the driver.
Geeman fired warning shots and also shot directly at the driver, killing the driver instantly.
The four, Vic, Jagger Pee, Nadia and Geeman were arrested. After years in court, Nadia and Vic were acquitted and discharged.
But, Jagger Pee was sentenced to life imprisonment for abetment to crime and the main culprit, Geeman was sentenced to death.
They filed an appeal, which saw Jagger Pee’s sentence reduced to two years in retrospect but Geeman’s verdict was sustained.
Fortune struck Geeman when in 2009, he became a beneficiary of President Kufour’s pardon, granted to some Ghanaian inmates before his term ended.
After his release, Geeman disclosed in an interview that the family of the deceased taxi driver petitioned the court to set him free.
Jagger Pee became unappealing for movie roles owing to badly damaged reputation.
He fled to the UK and overstayed for 5 years, but got deported later in 2006. Back in Ghana, he took a second shot at the movie industry but with very little success. Jagger Pee currently plays a role in the famous Chorkor Trotro. He was recently in the news seeking help to undergo a heart operation, which he says he cannot afford.
Jagger Pee did not pull the trigger and he did not even own a gun but that poor decision to hold the victim prior to Geeman’s shooting, which led to the taxi driver’s death, changed the trajectory of his life. And time, would not turn back it hands!