Muntaka Disowns ‘Girlfriend’

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has denied having any amorous relationship with Edith Zineuali, the lady he was said to have assisted to procure a German visa as alleged in the infamous ‘pampers and khebab’ scandal.

This was revealed when one of the lawyers representing him at the ongoing investigations by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Kwesi Baffour Intsiful was cross-examining his (Muntaka’s) accusers, the Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF), led by its spokesman Richard Kwesi Nyamah.

Muntaka, who was alleged to have ordered the release of over GH¢1.4million to the Sports Council without the approval of the Chief of Staff when he was the Sports Minister, was not at the hearing because he was said to have traveled to the United States on official assignment and scheduled to arrive yesterday evening.

Prior to the commencement of the hearing, Mr Nyamah and his lawyer, Anthony Namoo indicated the PNF’s discontinuation in pursuing 15 of the 16 allegations that they had earlier made against the former minister who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Asawase constituency in the Ashanti region, with the exception of one that has to do with the acquisition of a German visa for his supposed ‘girlfriend’.

This, he said, was because the witnesses on whom they were banking their hopes to prove their case, especially the former chief director and principal accountant of the Sports Ministry, Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom respectively, have all declined to testify before the Commission in order not to compromise the case they are currently pursuing against the state in court for their wrongful dismissal from the civil service, which is scheduled to be heard sometime in November this year.

During cross-examination, lawyer Intsiful asked Mr Nyamah the basis of his allegation, to which he indicated that the said Edith Zineuali was Muntaka’s girlfriend.

Mr Nyamah said his claim was based on the fact that President Mills had at a meeting with the media sought to ask whether Muntaka was the first government official to have travelled with a girlfriend; and the fact that the MP himself had indicated his preparedness to pay for any such liabilities was in itself an admission of guilt.

He tendered in as evidence a copy of the government white paper that was issued and signed by then Presidential Spokesperson, Mahama Ayariga, after the National Security had conducted investigations into the allegations against Muntaka.

Though counsel for the embattled MP raised issues about the authenticity of the document because it did not bear the insignia of the Government of Ghana (the coat of arms), the chairman of the Commission, Emile Francis Short, admitted it in evidence.

Mr Nyamah also tendered in a copy of the petition sent to the President by Mr Odoom, in which he asked the President to cause investigations into the allegations he made against the Minister in question as evidence.

But Muntaka’s lawyer put it to him that his client had no such relationship with the woman, Edith Zineuali.

Aside that, lawyer Intsiful said his client (Muntaka) did not have anything to do with the lady’s visa application; let alone the processes that led to its acquisition from the German Embassy. And neither did he have the opportunity to vet the application since it did not come before him.

For this reason, he said his client might have been misrepresented, taking into consideration the fact that the officer who processed the visa application described her as a staff of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when she was indeed a staff of Parliament and specifically the Secretary to then Majority Leader in the House, Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin.

The Commission has since adjourned sitting to Thursday, September 30, 2010, by which time Muntaka would have returned to the country to enable him cross examine his accuser.

Muntaka, who was barely four months in office, reportedly traveled with Edith Zineuali to the finals of the 1st CHAN tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, under very unusual circumstances.

He was said to have presented the lady as an employee of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when Edith was indeed a staff of the office of Parliament.

Muntaka Faces CHRAJ

-Over Pampers and khebab
Posted: Daily Guide | www.dailyguideghana.com
Monday, 27 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
FORMER YOUTH and Sports Minister and Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak is appearing before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) over the ‘pampers and khebab’ scandal.

All things being equal, CHRAJ boss Francis Emile Short and his team of lawyers will today start hearing the case in which the Minister was alleged to have blown over GH¢16,640 of the taxpayers’ sweat on his child’s pampers, food, oil and a host of other fleeting desires.

He was said to have ordered for the release of over GH¢1.4million to the Sports Council without the approval of the Chief of Staff.

Muntaka, who was barely four months in office, reportedly traveled with his girlfriend, Edith Zineuali, secretary to then Majority Leader in Parliament and now Minister for Works and Housing, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, to the finals of the 1st CHAN tournament in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, and slept in a plush hotel, tossing the bills to the State.

Under the circumstance, Muntaka was said to have presented the lady as an employee of the Ministry of Youth and Sports when Ms. Zineuali was indeed a staff of the office of Parliament.

He is thus being investigated by the Commission on allegations of abuse of office and conflict of interest which has earned him the nickname ‘Muntaka pampers’.

This follows a complaint filed by a pressure group, Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF) dated January 11, 2010, in which it asked CHRAJ to launch full-scale investigations into the circumstance under which the then Sports Minister "personally arranged for the accommodation of the Black Stars and officials in Navaisha, Kenya, in a pre-match camping against Sudan, without the involvement of any other official of the Ministry."

PNF, through its Spokesperson Richard Kwesi Nyamah, also enjoined CHRAJ as an investigative body to look into the trip of the former Minister with his girlfriend to Germany with State support.

CHRAJ suspended investigations into the allegations on Monday May 31, due to a petition filed by PNF, asking for a stay of proceedings because witnesses for the case were unavailable.

The Commission granted the petition pending the outcome of the court case filed against the Attorney General by Albert Anthony Ampong and Adim Odoom, former chief director and principal accountant respectively of the Sports Ministry, both of whom are principal witnesses in the case.

Now that the case has been determined in court, they thought it wise to resume the hearing.

The group thus charged the Commission to cause the former minister to refund an amount of GH¢664.02 in respect of baby oil, baby food, mouth wash and other household items charged on the ministry’s imprest account.

PNF also alleged that the former Sports Minister requested GH¢1,000 per match for the services of a ‘mallam’ (spiritualist) and demanded cash immediately for the purpose, adding that “... a director, Alhaji Abdullai Yakubu, was asked by Respondent to authorize payment without passing through the director, who is the spending officer”.

Furthermore, the pressure group accused Muntaka of fraudulently using his office to acquire a German visa for his girlfriend, Edith Zineuali.

The group therefore wants criminal charges to be preferred against the former Minister for Youth and Sports where he was found to have engaged in any fraudulent act; and a declaration amongst others, that he abused the trust and confidence reposed in him by the good people of the Republic of Ghana and his oath of office.

It is also asking CHRAJ to declare that the former minister was fraudulent in obtaining a German visa for his girlfriend.

In spite of the fact that the National Security made adverse findings of impropriety against Muntaka when it investigated the case, President Mills only asked the former Minister to resign his position whilst no other punitive action was taken against him, except to be asked to refund money unlawfully spent.

The President and his advisors thought it ‘wise’ to interdict and later relieve the then Principal Accountant, Adim Odoom and the then Chief Director of the Ministry, Albert Ampong, on the grounds that they failed to ensure that laid down procedures were followed to guide the former Minister’s 'reckless' expenditure - a decision the Human Rights Court has overturned.

This was probably part of the reasons the likes of presidential aide, Stan Dogbe are still hanging on to their jobs even after blowing over GH¢169, 000 at the Ministry of Information on supposed hampers, when the money was meant for educational campaign on the 2010 budget whilst the wrong person, the Director of Information Services Department (ISD), Nee Agiri Banor had been made a ‘sacrificial lamb’.

Mills Sacks ISD Boss

Posted: Daily Guide |www.dailyguideghana.com
Friday, 24 September 2010
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The dismissal of the Acting Director of the Information Services Department (ISD), Nee Agiri Barnor, has sparked controversy at the Ministry of Information, with the late Dan Lartey’s Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) calling for a refund of the over GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69billion) which has not been accounted for by the Ministry.

Nee Agiri Barnor was relieved of his appointment through a letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Bebaako Mensah, directing Information Minister John Tia to look for a new person to take over from him.

His budget for a whole year to disseminate government information was ¢450 million as against ¢1.69billion given to Stan Dogbe to buy hampers for some editors and reporters.

Though no specific reason was assigned for his sudden dismissal, it is believed that Mr. Barnor was sacked following DAILY GUIDE’s publication on the over GH¢169,000.00 (¢1.69billion) hampers’ scandal involving Presidential Aide Stanlislav Xoese Dogbe, with some pointing accusing fingers at Mr. Barnor as being the architect of the story.

This, sources said, was part of reasons why the ‘group of five’ deputy directors deliberately petitioned the President to cause the ISD boss’s removal, accusing him of displaying arrogance, incompetence and selectively vindictive style of administration.

Unfolding events at the Ministry and the ISD have made close associates of the dismissed ISD boss who worked under him at the department and the Ministry become nervous since they are also seen as ‘saboteurs’.

Prior to his dismissal, there was a frosty relationship between him and his superiors, including the Minister, his two deputies and Stan Dogbe, the Presidential Aide since he was not included in any decision-making process. John Tia had denied that Nee Agiri Barnor was not a team player, promising to work with everybody at the ministry.

However, a week after John Tia’s assurance, the ISD boss has been shown the exit, leaving Stan Dogbe, the man who squanderedthe taxpayer’s money on trivialities, to work at the corridors of power with his shoulders high.

This was because Mr. Barnor was said to be showing gross disrespect to his superiors, especially the two deputies, James Agyenim Boateng and Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who, it was rumoured, Mr. Barnor referred to as ‘small boys’ since he could not fathom why an elderly person like him was made a director whilst these two young men would be made deputy Ministers.

He was otherwise considered to be an outsider since he was said to have left the NDC to join Goosie Tanoh’s comatose National Reform Party which was formed out of the NDC.

Obviously aware of the accusing fingers that would be pointed at him as the only ‘black sheep’ among the lot, Mr. Barnor was said to have assembled his staff immediately DAILY GUIDE broke the story about the hampers, to dispel the probability of it being linked to him as the architect.

Despite the several spins and the obvious denial that have been put on the story by John Tia to cover-up for Stan Dogbe, (the man who signed and acknowledged receipt of the 1.69billion cedi cash in a ‘Ghana Must Go’ bag) and the Ministry, he has not been able to produce any documentary evidence to show how the ¢1.6billion cash was supposedly used for its ‘intended purpose’- the educational campaign on the 2010 budget.

But Stan himself admitted the money was expended on its intended purposes on hampers, workshops and payments to journalists and sympathizers of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) who wrote articles in favour of the budget statement, as well as radio hosts.

Mr. Barnor has since responded to issues leading to his dismissal, indicating that he was consistently sabotaged in the department by those he described as elements who saw him as a nuisance.

In a statement he issued yesterday, the former ISD boss said he was suspected to have stepped on the toes of some people who were bent on removing him from office in the performance of his duties since “efforts at communicating government policies were consistently and systematically sabotaged.”

This, he said, was evidenced by the fact that the ISD as a department was given only GH¢45,000 (¢450 million) to carry out public education on government policies nationwide throughout the eleven months he served in office.

It is therefore not clear why over ¢1.69billion was given to Stan Dogbe to be spent on hampers and other fleeting purposes while the ISD, the implementing agency for government communication, received virtually nothing relative to what Stan wasted.

Mr. Barnor therefore could not fathom why when communications to the public on government policies failed, the scapegoat became the ISD. He described the petition submitted by five officers of the ISD to the Minister of Information as part of a larger vicious conspiracy against him.

Nee Agiri Barnor denied ever having any dealings with DAILY GUIDE or any other media house to thwart the work of the department and chided his detractors for using the Enquirer newspaper as a platform to discredit him.

For the over 30 years that he has been in politics and public service in Ghana, he swore, he had never caused any publication in DAILY GUIDE.

He believes the time and energy spent on sabotage and scheming in this matter against him could have been better applied to fixing the dismal state of government communications.

The GCPP cannot also comprehend why in the face of the several challenges confronting the nation including discontent on the labour front and lack of logistics for the security agencies, the government is unable to properly account for the over GH¢169,000.

A statement issued by the party and signed by its General Secretary, Ali Adam, said “the official explanation that the money was spent on the communication of the 2010 Budget Statement by journalists mostly through the Institute for Financial & Economic Journalists (IFEJ) has proven to be false” since IFEJ has come out officially to deny ever receiving even a pesewa from the ministry.

The GCPP identified with the general anger of Ghanaians about this reckless expenditure, noting “this government is becoming too eager to spend the nation’s resources on the wrong things while our development effort is starved of the needed resources.”

The party noted that the money could have been used to procure bullet-proof for policemen on patrol duty which could have saved the recent killing of a policeman in Kumasi in the line of duty.

It has thus called on the Mills administration to cause the refund of the ¢1.69billion to the Consolidated Fund without delay since “the GCPP will never allow this matter to be swept under the carpet unless this money has been restored to the public purse.”