[ 2012-07-18 ]

NDC Plot Backfires
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.

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 20th
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.”

He continued, “I have a vague recollection of the
transaction, and can readily confirm that the
signature on the letter ILD/SCR/002 dated 18th
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.

Source - Daily Guide

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