NDC Plot Backfires

Published in Daily Guide on July 17, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
A press conference organised by government to supposedly expose the flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the ongoing judgment debt saga, turned out to clear him of any wrongdoing.
Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa had served notice of government’s preparedness to expose Nana Addo’s involvement in a massive judgment debt scandal which eventually turned out to be his advice as then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for government to pay an amount of $1.1million to the Great Cape Company of Switzerland.
What baffled most was that the substantive Minister of Information, Fritz Baffour, had to introduce his deputy minister, Ablakwa, to address the press conference whilst he acted as MC for the occasion.
Before his appointment as a minister, Fritz Baffour had told a gathering at La Palm Beach Hotel in 2010 that his constituents called him MC MP, indicating that he is known best at emceeing at public functions.
When Mr Ablakwa took the microphone to engage in political equalisation, he virtually ended up exonerating Nana Addo.  “We haven’t said that Nana Addo has engaged in any wrongdoing,” he said, indicating that it was an attempt to draw Nana Addo into the judgment debt saga.
Okudzeto, who is leading the NDC propaganda in the judgment debt conundrum, was answering a question on whether or not the NPP presidential candidate committed any wrongdoing in recommending the payment to the Swiss company.
Present were Deputy Interior Minister Kobby Acheampong and Kojo Twum-Boafo, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Free Zones Board (GFZB) and other members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team and some party footsoldiers.

Fritz Baffour listening to Okudzeto Ablakwa yesterday

Ablakwa and his other colleague Deputy Information Minister, James Agyenim Boateng, quoted two letters dated April 18, 2001 and October 3, 2011 written and signed by Nana Akufo-Addo in which he sought to confirm the country’s indebtedness to the said company.
The Controversial Letter
In the recent of the two letters which they claimed was an indictment on the flagbearer in supporting the payment of judgment debt, addressed to Dr Nat Tanoh, which he copied then Attorney-General Martin Amidu and Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor and captioned ‘Re: Letter and signature’; Nana Addo stated, “This is to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 20^th September 2011, requesting my assistance in the settlement of government’s long-standing indebtedness to Great Cape of Switzerland.
“I am somewhat disturbed by its contents, which have led to the unusual request contained in the letter. It is disconcerting that public record keeping has fallen into such straits that the files on this matter cannot be found either in the Ministry of Justice or in the Ministry of Finance. Be that as it may, it would be unconscionable on the part of government if its own poor record keeping is used to defeat legitimate claims of its creditors.”

Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa

He continued, “I have a vague recollection of the transaction, and can readily confirm that the signature on the letter ILD/SCR/002 dated 18^th April 2001, addressed to the Minister of Finance, attached to your letter, is indeed mine.
“I am also sending a copy to the Minister of Finance. I hope this is satisfactory for your purpose.”
This, according to Mr. Ablakwa, was an indication that “he (Nana Addo) had been busily advocating behind the scenes that the Great Cape Company of Switzerland be paid an additional $1,117,818.45 in what he calls Great Cape’s legitimate claims.”
When confronted with the issue of whether or not the NPP flagbearer indeed committed any wrongdoing, Mr Ablakwa said, “Indeed, we have said in the statement that we are not here to pass judgment. We are only applying the NPP’s logic on them that in the face of this new revelation, will all their standards apply… that if you agree with a company’s claim, if you say that the company has a legitimate claim on government then it means you are in for kickbacks, then it means that they are your cronies, you have share in it, you are a stealer and all of that.”
“We are only asking questions… that this is only a judgment or a liability press conference because as we speak, Isofoton was demanding $1.3million. These people are also demanding $1.1million and as the NPP flagbearer has said, it is unconscionable not to pay them. We have to pay them. It is another judgment debt,” he said.

Fiifi Kwetey’s Face-Off
Another Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Fifi Kwetey, who was also at the function, had a brush with Richard Sky of Citi FM when the latter questioned government’s condemnation of what it claimed to be “illegal abrogation of contractual obligations” when indeed the same NDC government had abrogated a petroleum agreement with a Norwegian company AKER ASA and Chemu Power Company Limited, in respect of the South Deep Water Tano Contract Area which was unanimously ratified by Parliament.
He sought to expose government’s double standards in accusing NPP of abrogating legitimate contracts.
Fifi Kwetey sought to rubbish his claim, treating it with pettiness whilst raising doubts about the journalist’s integrity, claiming that he was seeking to justify a wrongdoing.
The journalist described the deputy minister’s reaction as pedestrian, a comment which attracted condemnation from Mr. Ablakwa.
Interestingly, somewhere last year, Mr Ablakwa claimed on Radio Gold’s ‘Alhaji and Alhaji’ programme that government’s decision to abrogate the petroleum agreement with AKER SA had earned the country “over $1billion” as contained in the following internet link http://business.peacefmonline.com/industry/201108/60099.php
The unfounded accusation against Nana Addo, political analysts believed, was aimed at equalising the Woyome judgment debt scandal of GH¢51.2 million in which Woyome personally denied having any contract with government.

Kufuor Minister’s For Woyome Trail

Published in Daily Guide on July 12, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu

After subjecting them to all sorts of harassment and portraying them as common criminals, the Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is making frantic efforts to get some officials of the erstwhile Kufuor administration to testify as witnesses in the ongoing Woyome trial.
This was after several attempts by the State to get prosecution witnesses to testify in the case failed, a source at the High Court told DAILY GUIDE.
The former government officials being pursued by government to help prosecute the case against the NDC financier who has been accused of fraudulently pocketing GH¢51.2million, are former Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration, Osei Bonsu Amoah, his colleague at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu and former Finance and later Education and Sports Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo.
DAILY GUIDE learnt that Mr Amoah would appear today at the Fast Track High Court trying the case.
The trial court issued a subpoena for the aforementioned individuals to appear before the court today, Thursday, July 12, 2012 at exactly 9:00am and serve as prosecution witnesses.
A copy of the subpoena seen by DAILY GUIDE, dated Tuesday, July 9, 2012 and signed by Chief State Attorney Cynthia Lamptey, for Attorney-General Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, was given to the witnesses.
According to the source, the Attorney-General was compelled to resort to the issuance of a court order after initial attempts to get the former government officials to testify on behalf of the State failed due to the manner in which some of them were treated.
Mr. Amoah, for instance, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aburi-Nsawam, was arrested and detained.
The last time the case went to court, the presiding judge, Justice John Ajet-Nasam, had cause to express worry and disappointment about the manner in which State prosecutors were handling the case.
“Is the State serious in prosecuting the matter?” the judge asked after Mathew Amponsah, a Chief State Attorney, prayed for an adjournment because the State had not been able to fully confer with the witnesses who were also to tender relevant documents on the case.
The trial judge wondered why the State, which at the last hearing claimed it had witnesses to testify in the case, made a sudden u-turn with the excuse that the witnesses it wanted to use were out of the jurisdiction and therefore needed time.
However, Justice Ajet-Nasam said, “I am not doing your case for you anyway but I believe we can do this quickly and finish this case in the interest of Mother Ghana.”
It is not clear if the officials of the former administration will be forthcoming with information or act as hostile witnesses.
Woyome claimed that he had no contract with the state but succeeded in walking away with GH¢51.2million.
The money was said to have been fraudulently paid to him.

JJ Meets NDP Chiefs

Published in Daily Guide on July 9, 2012

By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Credible information picked up by DAILY GUIDE indicates that former President Jerry Rawlings has been holding a series of meetings with interim executive officers of the newly-formed National Democratic Party (NDP), which broke away from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Sources said he first met them in his office on Thursday, on arrival into the country from his trip abroad; and subsequently met other interim officers from selected regions including Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Central, Upper West and Northern regions on Friday together with his wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, at the North Ridge office of the 31^st December Women’s Movement (DWM).
Further meetings were held on Saturday to conclude the party’s registration process.
At the time DAILY GUIDE got to the office of the 31^st December Women’s Movement on Friday, they were said to be locked-up in a marathon meeting.
This was followed by another meeting on Saturday with another set of NDP officials.
Spokesman for the Rawlingses, Kofi Adams and other influential members of the group who had either resigned or left the NDC, were said to be present at various times, with the meeting lasting several hours.
The meeting, according to a source, was to among other things strategise on how to roll out a comprehensive and vigorous campaign across the length and breadth of the country ahead of the 2012 elections, and embark on an intensive membership drive to strengthen their support base.
Joseph Bediako, a member of Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKAR), told Rok FM in Takoradi that the former first family was part of the new party.
This ran counter to the position of the NDC that the association of Mr Rawlings, who is the NDC founder, to the NDP, was mere speculation.
“Over the past few days, the Secretariat of the NDC Headquarters has been approached by numerous media houses to comment on the reported formation of a new political party which is being associated with former President JJ Rawlings who is the Founder of the NDC.
“The NDC regards the reported association of our former President to the new party as mere speculation and will not make any statement on the matter until the former President himself comes out. All who speak in the name of the NDC in this matter must therefore do so with circumspection and to remain focused on what the Mills Administration has achieved in the face of daunting challenges,” a statement signed by Richard Quashigah, Propaganda Secretary said.
The continuous silence of the Rawlingses on speculations that they were behind the formation of the NDP had given many reason to believe they were indeed the brains behind the party.
Though no physical structure (in terms of building) had yet been sighted of the NDP, indications were that the party had interim officers in all 10 regions of the country and were seriously working to win more souls, especially disgruntled members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) into their fold.
This was in view of the fact that most or virtually all the founding members of the NDP were former members of the ruling NDC who were either on suspension for one reason or the other, or had left the ruling party out of frustration.
Former General Secretary of the NDC and now interim Chairman of the NDP, Dr Nii Armah Josiah Aryeh, had indicated that the ideology of the newly formed party was to protect Ghanaians with emphasis on the under-privileged in society.
Contrary to suggestions that the NDP was formed to scuttle the front of the ruling party, Josiah Aryeh maintained that the primary objective of the party was to become the people’s choice of a governing party.
The NDP has a logo that depicts a white rising dove with the famous ‘Gye Nyame’ symbol in its beak and colours similar to that of the NDC; red, green, white and black.

NDP Is Light Weight
Though the Electoral Commission is yet to issue the NDP with a certificate to operate as a full-fledged political party, some members of the Mills-led NDC administration including Deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa have sought to ridicule the formation of the party.
“I do not think the NDP has the capacity to organize and win elections in 2012 – it is still-born really,” he said on Joy FM/MultiTV current affairs programme, Newsfile on Saturday.
He said the NDC was still not sure whether the Rawlingses were indeed behind the party, adding that the NDC had issued a statement to say the founder, Mr. Jerry John Rawlings, had not indicated to the party he was leaving.
Okudzeto Ablakwa noted that even if the Rawlingses did not campaign for the NDC this year, that was not a guarantee the NDC would lose, saying that in 2000 and year 2004, the Rawlingses were on the NDC campaign trail and yet the party lost on both occasions, suggesting the former first family had little impact on the NDC’s fortunes.
The deputy minister said the National Reform party (NRP) dealt a serious blow to the NDC in 2000 because its members then were cadres who could organize at the grassroots level, but the people linked to the NDP so far were top brass NDC members who did not have the capacity and personnel to organize.
“So far we have not been able to count even five disgruntled leading members of the NDC linked to the NDP and there is nobody that can convince me that they can organize and make any impact.”