‘Kokonte Boys’ London Trip Hits Rock

Posted: Daily Guide |Friday, 25 March 2011
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
A forum being organised by the UK and Ireland branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to enable some government officials, including newly-appointed Sports Minister Clement Kofi Humado, Deputy Tourism Minister James Agyenim-Boateng Presidential Aides Nii Lantey Vanderpuye and Stanislav Xose Dogbe, and a host of others to drum home support for President Mills, has suffered a major setback.

The government officials are expected to travel with party Propaganda Secretary and National Youth Organizer, Richard Quashigah and Ludwig Hlodze respectively to the heart of the United Kingdom this week for the stated reason.

But even before the government delegation sets foot on the Queen’s land, the UK and Ireland branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have declined to participate in the event, saying the organizers want to use them to claim legitimacy.

The NPP says organisers of the event have created the impression as though the programme is a‘collaboration’ between all the major political parties which have branches in the UK including the NPP, CPP and the Ghanaian community there.

According to them, a handbill on the forum, currently in circulation, is “calling all Ghanaian Youths NDC, UK & Ireland Chapter in collaboration with Ghana High Commission, Ghana Union, CPP and NPP invite you to Ghana Youth Forum Theme: Ghana’s Youth: Partners in National Development.”

The hand bill is also said to be carrying the logos of the NPP together with that of the NDC, CPP and the trade mark of companies such as Cadbury Chocolate and Vodafone.

This is what compelled the NPP to distance itself from the event since according to its Assistant Youth Orgnizer, Godwin Adjei-Gyamfi, “we, the NPP UK & Ireland Branch have not given our permission or have ‘collaborated’ with the NDC to hold such an event as described above.”

They also claim to have gathered information which suggested that neither the CPP nor the Ghana High Commission and the Ghana Union in the UK played any role in the organization of the said event, let alone Cadbury and Vodafone.

In a statement, Mr Adjei-Gyamfi admitted to being contacted by the NDC Youth Organizer in the UK on March 14, 2011 just to invite them to attend the upcoming event, indicating that “we informed him it is the policy of our branch and our national party to co-operate and furnish support on issues which touch and concern Ghanaians in general and on issues where we have common ground but we objected to such an event being organised by a political party.”

He claims to have told the NDC Youth Organizer that such a forum would best come in the form of a non-political event which should be organized by either the Ghana Union or the Ghana High Commission, which he obliged.

Mr. Adjei-Gyamfi said he was therefore taken aback when he received an invitation and a hand bill on March 16, 2011, as described above.

The NPP expressed surprise and bewilderment at the action of the UK and Ireland branch of the NDC which has now proven to be the architects behind the scheme in a purely NDC programme.

They further expressed shock at the fact that patented trademarks of established companies such as Cadbury and Vodafone could be used without their consent, noting, “We are very much concerned of the legal implication and should either Cadbury or Vodafone resort to legal action, it will certainly bring our government in disrepute.”

This, they said, was because “this will ultimately affect the pockets of the ordinary tax payer in terms of a heavy legal cost and compensation to the companies”.

“We are therefore writing formally to distance ourselves from this event and state categorically that the event is a political event organised by the Youth Wing of NDC UK and Ireland and that NPP UK and Ireland are not in any way involved, and neither have we collaborated with it in any shape or form,” the statement said.

They suspect the event has been deliberately planned to coincide with the Ghana-England friendly football match, so members of government and, to a large extent, foot-soldiers of the NDC can travel to the UK for pleasure and entertainment in the name of soccer at the expense of the Ghanaian taxpayer.

It is not clear who is funding these Ministers and party officials to embark on this expensive trip.

They are scheduled to meet with members of the UK and Ireland branch of the party.

A memo informing and updating the UK members of the visit has been dispatched to London.

DAILY GUIDE sources in London have hinted of a planned protest against their visit by some local members of the NDC.

Sack Ministers: Bishop Tells Mills

Posted: Daily Guide | Thursday, 24 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church and President of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG), Reverend Prof. Emmanuel Asante, wants President John Evans Atta Mills to sack his appointees who have cultivated the bad habit of insulting their political opponents.

Bishop Asante believes such individuals and group of persons do not set good example for the youth to follow as they have little or nothing to offer the country.

Rev. Asante was speaking on Accra-based Oman FM in reaction to recent insults heaped on the New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s standard bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and other people by the Deputy Ministers of the Interior and Works and Housing, Kobby Acheampong and Hannah Louisa Bissiw respectively.

The President has been calling on Ghanaians to shun politics of insults, but strangely, insults seem to be part of the daily assignments of his appointees.

The two deputy ministers are on record to have made very disparaging remarks about their political opponents in the NPP when they addressed members of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) branch of the Tertiary Education Institutions Network (TEIN) of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Kumasi.

Kobby, who is notorious for making unsubstantiated allegations, was caught on tape describing Nana Akufo-Addo as a ‘fruit cake,’ and later addressed him (Akufo-Addo) as an untidy person.

Dr. Bissiw, a Cuba-trained veterinarian, on the other hand, described leading NPP activist Ursula Owusu as a ‘disgrace to womanhood’ and Nana Addo as a ‘sexy old fool’.

Both initially denied the comments but when the tape was played to them, they were found wanting.

“People like this should all be sacked because they have nothing to offer us. That’s why I keep saying that people in government, whether members of the ruling NDC or the opposition or whichever individual who describes himself as a politician and would stand on a platform to trade in insults, politics of invectives…we should not think about such people,” he said.

He said it was high time government and especially President Mills stamped his authority and brought such people to order since their utterances did not only augur well for government and the country’s politics in general.

He identified the incidence of insults, threats and lying as the three main issues affecting Ghana’s politics and therefore admonished the country’s politicians to desist from indulging in them.

The Bishop likened governance to a person selling a product, noting that one only had to advertise the product and tell people why they needed to buy it.

“But, if you go and stand somewhere and insult a friend, or excuse me to say, a person who can give birth to you, it doesn’t bring anything, it doesn’t bring development but violence.”

The reverend Minister stressed that it was time Ghanaian politicians stopped these despicable practices since it did not inure to the country’s development, emphasizing, “Anyone who does that does not understand politics.

As pastors, these are the very things we say and people say we are doing politics but there is national politics and party politics.”

“What I want to say is that anybody who wants to use insults to look for power or wants us to vote for him, we will plainly tell our people that they should understand issues and that such people have nothing to offer them.”

NDC Power Struggle:

Kokonte Boys Storm London
Posted: Daily Guide |Tuesday, 22 March 2011
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
DAILY GUIDE has picked up information that a couple of the young appointees in the Mills administration who were recently captured eating bowls of Kokonte, including National Youth Organizer of the NDC Ludwig Hlodze, Deputy Tourism Minister James Agyenim-Boateng, are travelling sometime this week to London to whip up support for the beleaguered NDC leader.

DAILY GUIDE sources said the young lads, as well as newly-appointed Sports Minister Kofi Humado, will use the trip to watch the historic Ghana-England football match at the weekend.

The rest include Presidential Aides Nii Lantey Vanderpuye and Stanislav Dogbe and Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, Richard Quashigah.

Their mission, according to our source, is cut out and simple: ‘to mop up support’ for President John Evans Atta Mills in his second term bid which promises to be a bare-knuckle fight between the Castle and Ridge.

This trip comes on the heels of a recent one to the Eastern region by the young appointees, where they devoured bowls of palatable kokonte.

It is not clear who is funding these ministers and party officials to embark on this trip to meet already disgruntled members, some of whom are said to be planning a protest against the visit.

They are scheduled to meet with members of the party in the UK and Ireland. A memo informing and updating the UK members of the visit has been dispatched to London.

A member of one of the branches in UK told DAILY GUIDE, "Our party is dying. For me, I have nothing to lose. I am very angry with the government so I will verbally attack them."

Even before the government officials set foot on English land, information coming in indicates that an active and long-standing member, Jamal Abdul Rahman, has resigned from the party.

The reasons he was said to have given for his resignation were that he had lost confidence in the government and the fact that the party’s founder, former President Jerry Rawlings was being treated as though he was an outsider.

In one of his most recent comments on the social networking site Facebook, NDC Youth activist Mohammed Abdulai Mubarak aka Ras Mubarak said he "will not support President Mills even if the party founder Jerry Rawlings steps out to campaign for him."

He added, “We cannot put up with four more years of paralysis. It would be worse than the seven years of painful drought in biblical times. They talk about Mills’s humility when he is not listening to his own party founder and they talk about admitting mistakes and yet no one is ever held accountable for those mistakes."

The Mills-Mahama government has gained notoriety for brazenly refusing to tell Ghanaians how government was spending money on party activity.

The most recent case of chicanery is the flying of NDC supporters, popularly referred to as foot-soldiers, to the World Cup tournament in South African where thousands of dollars were spent on them.

The government has failed to give a full disclosure of how much it spent on the exercise, despite calls to give a full account of the trip.

Police Hunt Boxer

Posted: Daily Guide | Friday, 18 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The police at James Town in Accra have begun a search for a boxer by name Nii Aryee Bruno popularly called Gbese Bruno.

Gbese Bruno, a super middle weight fighter, is being hunted because he has been on the wanted list of the James Town police station for his involvement in a series of issues concerning the Gbese stool, with the latest being a shooting incident on Tuesday night.

James Town District Police Commander, Superintendent Benjamin Bakomora, who confirmed the story to DAILY GUIDE SPORTS, narrated that in their statements to the police, the victims including 28-year-old Joseph Armah Tetteh, Joseph Tagoe, 20, and 22-year-old Kwaku Sadat claimed the boxer shot the three persons with a locally manufactured pistol without provocation.

Some were hit on the face, abdomen, chest, legs and hands whilst others run for cover.

The incident was said to have taken place at Bukom around 8.00pm near the Sukumo Wulomo (traditional priest) stool house where the victims had gathered and were having a conversation.

The police believed the shooting incident had something to do with a chieftaincy dispute over the Gbese Stool. According to Superintendent Bakomora, a fight had ensued between two factions after a court hearing in the course of the day.

He noted that the shooting incident could have been the rippling effect of a scuffle that began earlier in the day, since the victims claimed Gbese Bruno had come to the area in the company of some of his friends whose names were given as Braka, Ampah, Larbi and Saban to confront some members of one of the disputed factions in the Gbese stool case.

They were said to be holding broken bottles, cutlasses and other offensive weapons when they went to the area.

In the heat of the event, the boxer was said to have shot the three persons and fled.

A complaint was lodged with the police who issued the victims with medical forms to go for treatment at the accident centre of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where they were treated and discharged.

Each time he commits any such heinous crime, Gbese Bruno is said to go into hiding for a long time and later resurfaces to commit another one.

The boxer and his accomplices have since gone into hiding with the police mounting a manhunt for him.

He is believed to be hiding in Nungua or Teshie in Accra. Superintendent Bakomora therefore urged members of the public who have any information on his whereabouts to assist the police with such information.

Drama Over GBC Boss Dismissal

Posted: Daily Guide | Thursday, 17 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The sudden decision by President Mills to remove one of government’s two nominees serving on the National Media Commission (NMC), Samuel Appiah-Ampofo has raised eyebrows.

Mr Appiah-Ampofo was the Chairman of the committee set up by the NMC to investigate William Ampem-Darko, the dismissed Director-General of the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).

Mr Ampem-Darko’s appointment was terminated by the NMC on Tuesday after he was asked to proceed on indefinite leave some months ago following allegations of impropriety and tension at the GBC.

But even before he could make the findings of his committee available to the entire membership of the NMC, he was withdrawn and replaced by one Kodzo Batse, a long standing lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ).
The development has raised eyebrows, since according to sources, the findings of his report would have exonerated the dismissed GBC boss of any wrongdoing.

A statement issued by the Commission and signed by its chairman, Kabral Blay-Amihere dated March 16, 2011 which communicated the decision to the media, said the decision follows deliberations on the recent impasse.

Another statement by the NMC and signed by Executive Secretary, George Sarpong dated March 16, 2011 announced President Mills’ decision to withdraw one of his nominees serving on the Commission.

The decision also affected the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, Professor John B.K Aheto who has been at loggerheads with Mr Ampem-Darko since his appointment to the position.

Mr Appiah-Ampofo was also the Chairman of the Finance and Administration of the committee.

According to the former GBC boss, in spite of the fact that the findings of the committee were not communicated to him, the decision to end his contract was made without the chairman of the committee.

He could not fathom why a decision was taken to withdraw Mr Appiah-Ampofo from the Commission eight hours before his dismissal as GBC boss, thereby raising suspicion of underhand dealings.

Speaking on Joy FM yesterday, Mr Ampem-Darko said he suspected foul play in the termination of his appointment since according to him, the decision to end his contract was taken without the chairman of the committee who sat on the case.

“So the chairman of the committee that investigated the GBC affairs was withdrawn eight hours to the time they were supposed to take a decision on the findings.

Even Mr Appiah-Ampofo never had the opportunity to affirm the final meeting that took the decision to terminate my appointment,” he wondered.

He stressed that there was more to the decision to terminate his appointment than merely explanations given so far.

The former GBC boss however denied any wrongdoing during his tenure at GBC, indicating his preparedness to go to court to clear his dented image and reputation which he managed to build over the past 35years.

He has since asked the NMC to institute forensic investigations (audit) into the allegation of financial impropriety leveled against him by his accusers within the next two weeks.

TOR In ‘Messy’ Oil Deal

Posted: Daily Guide |Wednesday, 16 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu

Questions are being asked at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) over the ownership of some 600,000 barrels of brass crude oil worth $48million supplied to Ghana last year.

Currently, three or more companies including Refinee Petroplus, Diamond Shipping Company Limited and another one are all claiming ownership of the oil and its proceeds.

DAILY GUIDE’s investigations show that one of the companies has even succeeded in imposing a court injunction on TOR.

Though the management of TOR, headed by former Managing Director (MD) of Ghamot Ghana, Ato Ampiah, is not forthcoming with details about the transaction, one Nigerian shipping company, Diamond Shipping, has alerted the police and the Bureau of National investigations (BNI) of what seems to be a well-orchestrated scam.

The original officials of Refinee Petroplus have since denied having any interests in Africa, let alone Ghana and the lady whose name was presented as their local representative here in Ghana has proved to be a worker of Sahara Energy Ghana Limited whilst the address of the company is non existent.

Mr. Ampiah and Alhaji Awud Ariff Abubakar, the Board member who sat on the committee that nominated Diamond Shipping Company for the lifting of the oil cargo, were tight-lipped on the issue when contacted on Monday.

But General Manager In-charge of Commerce at TOR, Dr Alphonse Dorcoo, however denied TOR ever dealing with Diamond shipping company and its CEO, Dr Maureen, though the company still insists it was mandated by TOR, through a letter of nomination which requested them to load the oil onto a vessel, MT VERGINA II.

Based on this, the company, through its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Maureen Nwangwu-Iduh, began to source for the product in August 2010 and eventually succeeded in lifting the product to Ghana.

Before then, Dr Nwangwu-Iduh was said to have been contacted by one Prince Solomon to be allowed to lift the product with his vessel, MT Jacksonville, and sent her a request to enable him to load same.

Dr Nwangwu-Iduh was however said to have called to inform him that MT Vergina had already been engaged for that purpose and therefore could not strike a deal with Solomon.

But even before Dr Nwangwu-Iduh and the oil could arrive in the country for the product to be inspected and offloaded by TOR, Mr Solomon had succeeded in convincing officials of the oil refinery that the cargo on board the vessel was his.

He was then said to have conspired with an official of TOR, one William Wade and another Board Member of the company, Alhaji Awud Ariff Abubakar, to discharge the product without documentation in relation to the vessel or the cargo delivered.

Solomon was said to have subsequently attempted to sell the oil cargo to a company by name Eagle Eye Resources but it backfired.

He was later said to have called Dr Maureen Nwangwu-Iduh, claiming that Alhaji Ariff had decided to pay Refinee Petroplus, thereby recognizing them as the suppliers of the product.

Alhaji Ariff was part of the committee that nominated Diamond Shipping for the right to supply the oil cargo to TOR.

This compelled Dr Maureen Nwangwu-Iduh to cause officers at the Airport police station to arrest Solomon.

Officials of Diamond Shipping have since managed to secure a court injunction against TOR, making it impossible to make any payment through anyone or the banks to anyone else until the investigations or litigations were concluded.

Though the issue was reported to the National Security (Blue Gate), it is currently being handled by the BNI.

Ken Agyapong Faces Police

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 10 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday besieged the Police Headquarters in Accra in solidarity with the Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin-North, Kennedy Agyapong, who had been invited by the police for questioning.

The supporters, some of whom were in party T-shirts, went to the headquarters of the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to give moral support to the man who was invited for questioning for allegedly threatening to kill Alhaji Bature, an apologist of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and publisher of The Al-Hajj newspaper.

Mr. Agyapong was alleged to have threatened to kill Mr. Bature during a radio interview on Asempa FM after the latter allegedly insulted the former’s mother and accused him of being a drug baron.

Moments after the MP arrived at the headquarters, his supporters rushed to his car and started shaking his hands.

After exchanging pleasantries, Mr. Agyapong and his three lawyers, including Kwame Gyan and Andy Appiah-Kubi, went to meet the police investigators.

At a point, the crowd became impatient with the attitude of the policemen manning the gate since they prevented close aides of the MP, including his father, from going pass it.

Journalists who wanted to enter the premises with their vehicles were equally asked to return.

About an hour-and-a- half later, Mr. Agyapong and his lawyers came out of the meeting with the police, wearing broad smiles.

They were however compelled to address journalists outside the main gate leading to the CID headquarters since the police would not open the gate for any individual or group of persons to enter the yard.

When they got there, Mr. Agyapong said they met two senior police officers who asked him to write his statement.

Though he admitted “they were very nice,” the Assin-North MP said “but I don’t underestimate anything.”

“I just told them I will meet him in court that’s all,” he said.

Generally, Mr. Appiah-Kubi said, the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and that the police had commenced investigations into the allegation of ‘threat of death’ as claimed by Alhaji Bature.

Mr. Agyapong has not been charged since the officers only took a caution statement from him.

His lawyers wondered whether or not the police could sustain the allegation but stressed their preparedness to defend their client should the police decide to prosecute the case after gathering evidence.

They however declined reading political motives into their client’s invitation by the police.

Asked whether they were also contemplating on filing a civil suit against Bature, who alleged that the MP was a cocaine dealer, Mr. Appiah-Kubi said they would only take such a decision when their client mandated them.

Public Affairs Director of the CID, Chief Inspector Joseph Benefo Darkwa, said evidence was being gathered as part of the entire investigation since their duty was to protect lives and respect the human rights of every individual.
“Our encounter was very cordial and friendly as we will do to every individual.

We are conducting the investigations and whoever needs to be invited to give evidence in this matter will be invited accordingly. The ultimate is to find out the truth and protect life and property so we will do all that,” he told Citi FM.

Asiedu-Nketia Dragged To CHRAJ

Posted: Daily Guide |Thursday, 10 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, is expected to meet members of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) anytime soon to answer questions on his conflicting role in the execution of the Bui Power Project (BPA).

This follows a request by a pro-governance organization, the Coalition of Democratic Forces (CDF), asking the Commission to investigate the circumstances that led to Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah’s block manufacturing company being awarded a contract to manufacture blocks for the project site, whilst he continues to serve on the company as a Board Member.

As a Board member of the BPA, the group said, “We strongly believe that Mr Aseidu Nketiah used his position to influence the contract being awarded to his company.”

This was what informed the decision of CDF, which is chaired by Michael Omari Wadie, to file a case of conflict of interest against the NDC scribe.

Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah, who is popularly referred to as General Mosquito, has denied any case of conflict of interest. According to him, the sub contractors who bought blocks from his company for the project did so on their own volition, without any compulsion.

He has since instituted a legal action against the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BPA, Fred Oware, for defamation since he made the issue public.

CDF wants the Commission, which is currently headed by Anna Bossman, to establish whether Mr. Asiedu Nketiah’s block manufacturing company followed the laid-down procedures in securing the contract for the supply of cement blocks to the BPA at very exorbitant prices.

It also wants CHRAJ as an institution to investigate whether or not it does not amount to conflict of interest.

Furthermore, they also want the Commission to ascertain whether General Mosquito indeed used the proceeds of his controversial block-making company to build his mansion in Oyarifa, within the short period that he secured the contract.

I Was Coached

Posted: Daily Guide | Tuesday, 08 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The man at the centre of a raging controversy over claims that some influential members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) advised him to lie about the ‘Amina bus sex’ story, Michael Ofosu Frimpong, has made another revelation about the ongoing trial.

DAILY GUIDE has stumbled on an audio recording in which Michael Frimpong, who is now at the CID cells at the Police Headquarters, was overheard telling someone in a telephone conversation that state prosecutors made him lie against the NPP chieftains he named, during his appearance in court as a witness for the prosecution in the Amina Yutong bus mass rape saga, as those who bribed him to corroborate the Amina story.

The NPP bigwigs named in the alleged saga were party chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Assin North MP Kennedy Agyapong, former Finance Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo and a private legal practitioner, Professor Ken Attafuah.

Frimpong related that he was picked up from his cells at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Police Headquarters by the investigator handling the case, whose name he gave as Issa Mohammed.

According to him, Mohammed took him to the office of the prosecutor, Paul Asibi Abariga, where Mr. Abariga, in-turn took him to the office of Attorney General, Martin Amidu.

At the office of the Attorney General, Frimpong said he was told that the only condition under which he could be let off the hook was if he discounted his earlier claims of being on board the said bus at the time of the incident and mentioned the names of the NPP stalwarts as those who asked him to go and make those claims on Adom FM.

Though efforts to reach Martin Amidu have proved unsuccessful, the prosecutor handling the case, Paul Abariga, has denied ever taking Frimpong to the AG’s office to cook up a story for him to tell, describing it as untrue.

“The AG does not know him by face but by the offence. He gave his evidence on his own volition and in his own handwriting which he dully signed himself,” was what he said in an interview with DAILY GUIDE last Friday.

But Frimpong insists on his claim, saying that “he (Martin Amidu) even told me that when they take every case to the court, they lose so I should help them to win this case.” Frimpong insisted that even what he said in court was written for him to rehearse before going to court.

According to the suspect, the NPP gurus had done no wrong and that his testimony was influenced by the prosecutor.

He claimed that Kennedy Agyapong was roped into the matter because they said he was a thorn in the flesh of the NDC administration.

Frimpong had earlier told DAILY GUIDE in previous conversations while at Nsawam Prisons that the police investigator had taken him to Mr Abariga’s office twice, urging him to testify for the state.

Frimpong said he was compelled by circumstances to tell the truth because he was still being held in custody despite an assurance to release him if he would implicate the NPP gurus.

“I have also been childish; I will disgrace them and I will…I am ready to face any death and I am ready to put every incident that took place at the Attorney General’s office out,” he said.

Michael Frimpong had made claims on Adom FM that he was onboard the Yutong bus on which passengers, including Amina, were made to have sex with one another at gunpoint by suspected armed robbers.
Amina was saved because she claimed she was in her menses.

Frimpong was subsequently arrested by the police after telling Great FM, an Achimota-based private radio station, the same story for allegedly ‘causing fear and alarm’- a case in which he is being prosecuted.
However, under inexplicable reasons, Frimpong later became a prosecution witness in the Amina case.

He claimed that his appearance in court was at the instance of the Attorney General who had promised dropping the charges against him if he would implicate the NPP chieftains.

The last time he appeared in court, Frimpong, among other things, alleged that he was offered GH¢90,000 (¢900million) by the named NPP men to go and corroborate Amina’s story- a claim they have all rubbished and treated with contempt.

Mr. Abariga told DAILY GUIDE “he wanted to go and get the ticket from Kumasi for the Amina case but when police sought to accompany him, he broke down and confessed that what he sought to do initially was a lie and that he was sponsored and coached by his two lawyers and those he gave their names.

“He also said when he went to Adom FM, he was going to negate Amina’s account but, upon reaching Adom FM, his sponsors asked him to rather go and corroborate Amina’s story.

I will never cook up a story because it will not only be unprofessional but also unethical because I’m not conviction-minded but a justice officer,” said the state prosecutor.

He stated, “I will not want to engage in any media trial because I know the consequences of such actions.

All I have or I believe in is that I will never want to engage in any conduct that tends to bring the authority and administration of the law into disrespect or disregard, because it is essential to maintain the existence of the legal system of any state that the court should have ample powers to enforce its orders and to protect itself or its procedure.

I desire to recognize and uphold this principle at all times as a legal practitioner and a prosecutor for that matter.”

On this basis, the state prosecutor said, “I cannot be seen to have cooked up a story in respect of the instant case because I do other cases as well and irrespective of the geographical, ethnic or partisan origin, all I do is to study a case, advise on it and possibly do prosecute where it is prosecutable as allowed by law.”

Asiedu Nketia’s Plush Mansions

Posted: Daily Guide | Wednesday, 02 March 2011
www.dailyguideghana.com
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who have always demonised the New Patriotic Party’s property-owning philosophy seem to have been caught by their own deeds as many embark on a ‘property-grabbing’ mission.

Latest among several others who have been captured by DAILY GUIDE’s investigative team is none other than the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, popularly called General Mosquito.

Apart from his block-manufacturing company which has landed him in a controversial case of conflict of interest regarding his dealings with the Bui Power Authority (BPA), the NDC General Secretary is believed to have simultaneously put up two big mansions in Accra and Kumasi within the last two years.

Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah however declined to answer queries regarding the alleged properties when contacted by DAILY GUIDE yesterday, because he claimed the newspaper had published twisted stories about him.

“I’m not talking to you because anytime you call and I tell you the truth about what I know, you still go ahead and publish things against me so you may go and publish what you want to publish,” he said amidst threats that “I will take my decision. If it is libelous, I will deal with you.”

In spite of his refusal to speak on the issue, residents of Oyarifa, a developing community along the Accra-Aburi highway where one of the imposing two-storey buildings is located, are convinced that the house belongs to the NDC General Secretary since he visited the place each day to see the level of progress of work.

Painters were busily whitewashing the edifice when DAILY GUIDE visited the site last week.

Sources say actual work on the two-storey building commenced somewhere in November 2009 and within the space of a year, it has been completed.

The only thing that is probably left would be the interior decoration since everything seems set for its owners to move in.

The house, which is touted as one of the finest in the area, is fitted with a number of air conditioners, water reservoir and satellite dish, with street lights around it.

It also has a security post attached to it. At the time DAILY GUIDE visited the site, workers were busily putting finishing touches to it, with painting almost near completion.

Mr. Asiedu-Nketiah, a native of Seikwa, who currently lives in the centre of Accra, visits the project site each day.

Residents of the area, which is sprouting with new buildings, expressed surprise at the speed with which the building was completed, considering the fact that several of such types of buildings in the area which began long before that of General Mosquito’s were nowhere near completion.

Most of these residents said they did not know the owner of the building until they started seeing General Mosquito when the work started moving at a fast pace.

He is also said to have put up another plush mansion at Daaban Panyin, a suburb of Kumasi.

This other two-storey building is believed to have taken six months to construct and it is almost near completion, with a boy’s quarters. Landscaping is already being done at top speed.

Residents alleged the materials used for the construction of the building, including bags of cement, were usually sent to the project site in articulated trucks, with a man suspected to be his brother supervising.

General Mosquito was said to have usually visited the Daaban building site in the night, probably to avoid prying eyes.

Checks by DAILY GUIDE revealed that the land on which the building is situated was initially owned by government but later on reverted to the Kaase stool, the original owners of the Daaban Panyin lands.

Due to the lavish nature of the building, residents told DAILY GUIDE, several developers trooped to the site to take photographs of the building, with the view to replicating the plan.

When DAILY GUIDE visited the site, the watchman in whose care the building was, was busily working on the lawn outside the house.

DAILY GUIDE was told the needed materials had already been brought in, expected to have been fixed by now.