Posted: Daily Guide | Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) is seething with anger over government’s decision to interdict the two prime witnesses and civil servants who blew the cover of former Youth and Sports Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.
The NPP therefore called for the prosecution of Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak who is currently walking a free man, since the provisions of the country’s Constitution does not encourage justice for a select few, but for all persons.
The two civil servants, Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom, Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Principal Accountant of the same ministry respectively, were interdicted on the instructions of President John Evans Atta Mills, when they made startling revelations about financial malpractices at the Ministry, which led to the eventual removal of Muntaka.
Reminiscent of the dark days of the Rawlings-led Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era, government proceeded to seize the official vehicles of the two senior civil servants through the use of 14 National Security operatives, smacking of executive influence.
A statement issued and signed by the Communications Director of the NPP, Kwaku Kwarteng yesterday, said “the attitude of the NDC government in this matter makes complete nonsense of their professed fight against corruption, considering the biased nature they have treated the two civil servants and rather let the Minister off the hook”.
The party contended that the two court rulings in favour of the two victims are “a loud statement about the NDC government’s penchant for acting unlawfully and recklessly”.
The NPP therefore called for the immediate re-instatement of the two senior civil servants, since the party believed the interdiction of the two is without any reason and rather a knee-jerk reaction to their success in the court action they instituted against government and for that matter, the Attorney-General.
For the NPP as a party, what is most worrying is the effect of the interdiction of the two poor civil servants on the professional integrity of the Civil Service, since it believes that the Civil Service as an institution is an indispensable tool for the nation's development, and nothing should be done to undermine its professional integrity.
“It is expected that when poor civil servants are compelled to institute a legal action in defence of their rights, they will not be victimized as a result,” Mr Kwarteng said, reminding Ghanaians of the provisions of Article 191 of the Constitution which protects civil servants from victimization and unjust punishment.
In all of this, the NPP said the role of the Attorney-General's Department cannot go without reprobation, and observed the department is gradually turning out to be “the worst nightmare of the Mills Presidency”.
In an issue like this, when the Attorney-General has been notified of the attempt to interdict the two civil servants and the letter interdicting them has been copied to her, it is expected that the Attorney-General would advise the Civil Service Council on the illegality of its actions.
On the contrary, the NPP noted that the Attorney-General has remained silent on this brute violation of the rights of two innocent and ‘poor’ Ghanaian workers, noting with emphasis that “all this is a wicked and embarrassing display of selective justice”.
Meanwhile, the former Minister, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak has only been asked to ‘go and sin no more’ whilst the two civil servants who dared to draw attention to the looting of the taxpayer’s money have been interdicted.
In the light of this, the NPP asked rhetorically: “What kind of ‘father-for-all’ is President Mills?”
The party said this action will deter public servants and the public in general from volunteering information towards the fight against corruption.
The National Security Committee, which investigated the infamous ‘Muntaka Saga’, made express findings of financial impropriety and misconduct against him, which among others included collecting per diems from the Ministry when he was not entitled to; falsely representing a lady as an official of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the purposes of securing visa when the lady was in fact NOT an official of the Ministry; and wasting the taxpayer's money on the same lady’s visit to Germany, as part of a government entourage.
Aside that, he was also found to have wasted the taxpayer's money on the lady again on a trip to Ivory Coast to watch a football tournament as part of a government delegation and wasting the taxpayer's money on baby oil, baby diapers, baby food, meat for his household and so on, when those personal items are not supposed to be part of the budget for the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
In the face of these gloomy findings against the Minister, President Mills asked media men who were seeking answers as to what sanctions were being taken against Muntaka whether that was the first time a Minister had travelled abroad with a girlfriend, saying that it was an act of indiscretion. “One would have expected the President and his Attorney-General to recommend the prosecution of Alhaji Muntaka.
On the contrary, the President, in a twist of contradictions, heaped praises on Muntaka and merely asked for a refund of the expenses he falsely charged on the budget of the Ministry of Youth and Sports,” the NPP