Posted: The Chronicle / Thursday, July 16, 2009
By Charles Takyi Boadu
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| Hon. Kennedy Agyepong, MP for Assin-North constituency (left), Hon. Seth Agyei-Baah (Shaaba), MP for Nkawkaw (middle), Kwame Sefa-Kayi (right) |
Mr. Agyepong confirmed telling some colleague MPs that Shaaba had indeed informed him that during the campaign season for the 2008 general elections, he was approached by Peace FM’s ‘Kokrokoo’ Morning Show host, Kwami Sefa Kayi, who told him point-blank that he was a member of the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), and that he should give him an amount of GH¢45,000 cedis to help him win the Nkawkaw Parliamentary seat he was contesting.
According to him (Mr. Agyepong), he was extremely surprised when he got the information from Shaaba, considering the fact that he (Sefa Kayi) occasionally had the opportunity of travelling with then President Kufuor as part of his media team.
This, he said, was what made him ask his colleagues, with whom he was having the said discussion, to be careful, and that he had no hard feelings against Sefa Kayi or Shaaba.
But, Shaaba found it extremely difficult to confirm or deny the allegation when he was called into the programme, since he could not tell whether or not he indeed made any such inferences, let alone met Sefa Kayi over the said matter.
Shaaba could not answer the questions outrightly, but continued to hide behind the use of the words ‘I don’t remember’, which obviously raised some question marks on his position.
That notwithstanding, Shaaba said he could not tell where and when in Parliament he had this conversation with Mr. Agyepong, saying “I am surprised about that, because honestly, I don’t know where and when, because I know Ken, but we don’t discuss things like that, it is hi and hello, so I don’t know where and how that kind of discussion should come, for us to discuss all these things.”
He suspected Ken Agyepong might have gotten the information from another source, since according to him, “to the best of my knowledge, we have not discussed something like that. I don’t know all these things are coming out.”
Like a judge in his own court, Sefa Kayi pressed further for Shaaba to confirm or deny telling Mr Agyepong any such thing or meeting him over the issue, but the hard-pressed Shaaba told him that if he (Sefa Kayi) knows he has done any such thing, then so be it, but he does not recall where and where this discussion took place.
Shaaba said he only knows Mr. Agyepong as a colleague Member of Parliament, and considered him a senior brother and colleague businessman, with whom he occasionally exchanged greetings and pleasantries.
Apart from that, he said he does not have any intimate relations with him, for him to go to the extent of having any such discussions.
But, Mr. Agyepong, who made the allegation, insisted that it was Shaaba who told him about the issue in Parliament.
He was however apologetic about the issue coming out in public, since the journalist who broke the story, one Okamafo Asomani Addo of the Weekly Standard newspaper, seemed to have eavesdropped on a conversation he was having with colleague Parliamentarians.
“It is an unpleasant situation for him; and I am sorry for him, but the truth is, he told me,” he said, asking why out of the several NPP MPs, he did not mention anybody’s name, apart from Shaaba.
Probably for the first time in recent years, the hard-to-crack Assin-North MP was remorseful and could not find words to pacify his colleague for opening his mouth too wide.
Though Mr. Agyepong confirmed having discussed the bribery allegation with some people, he totally denied ever saying anywhere or telling anybody during the said discussion with his colleagues, that Sefa Kayi was his sworn enemy, and challenged the journalist to play the tape recording he claims to be having in his possession.
Okamafo however refused to play the tape, stressing that he only takes solace from the fact that Mr. Agyepong confirmed the bribery allegation, which was the substance of the story.