Adentan MP Clears Air

Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com

By William Yaw Owusu

Thursday May 19, 2011.
Benedict Kwadwo Adu Asare, the Member of Parliament for Adentan in the Greater Accra Region who was accused of allegedly clearing a 40 footer container loaded with various items imported to the Tema Port, has hit back at his accuser, describing the allegation as a total fabrication.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP told DAILY GUIDE that his accuser, Dr. Nana Banful Ghansah, domiciled in Finland, was up to mischief but he would not sit down for him to destroy his hard earned reputation.

Mr. Adu Asare and Dr. Ghansah have known each other for sometime but the issue of who cleared the 40 footer container is causing a serious rift between the two men.

According to the MP, his accuser presented half truths to the media in order to satisfy his diabolical agenda, explaining that he had told Dr. Ghansah, well in advance before the shipment, that he was no longer interested in the container.

Dr. Ghansah had told DAILY GUIDE in both telephone conversation and e-mail correspondence that somewhere in June 2010, the NDC MP visited him in Finland and requested for some items to be shipped to him as a gift, which he did.

He said the cost of the freight was 3,500 Euros, excluding three months demurrage which was to be determined by the shipping company at Tema, adding that the contents were gifts he gave to the MP at the total cost of 30,000 Euros, including the medical equipment.

He also said he loaded a 40 footer container with assorted goods including computers, scanners, monitors, laptops, keyboards and mice, printers, photocopies, 54" LG Television, UPS, digital cameras, MP3 players, DVD players, mounted bikes, fridges and deep freezers, microwaves, bales of used clothes, school tables and chairs, carpets, mattresses, shopping trolleys, office chairs and tables.

But the MP disputed the items that Dr. Ghansah presented to the media, saying the list of items sent to him did not include laptops and scanners.

According to the MP, the items sent to him included clothes, shoes, bicycles, fridges, freezers, computer monitors school furniture photocopiers, printers, computers, medical equipment, LG TV (49 inches), water compressors, shopping trolleys, advertisement boards, microwaves, mattresses, piano radio and CD player, printer toners washing machines, dish washers among others (all used).

The MP said he did not request for a 56" LCD television and a couple of new laptops, as being claimed, but said he sent about 4000 Euros to Finland for Dr. Ghansah to facilitate the shipment of the items.

However, Dr. Ghansah insists that the amount the MP sent to him, through one Edward Kofi Donkor in Germany, was not up to 4000 Euros and went ahead to produce a transcript of the transaction.

“I got the money through Western Union from Offenbach, Germany. The first amount was €957.50 which bears an MTCN number: 4935218905 sent on 24.05.2010”, he noted, adding, “The amount he asked the guy to send was not enough so he asked the guy to send me another €1,057.50 with MTCN number: 1193592124 sent on 30.05.2010.”

But the MP insisted that he did not agree to pay the freight once the container arrived in Ghana, adding that when the container arrived at the port in Tema, the agent contacted him and he told them he was not interested because he had told Dr Ghansah to stop the shipment.

The MP said if Dr. Ghansah was being sincere, he would have reported the matter to the police and the shipping agency in charge if he felt his container was missing, adding, “He did not even send me a bill of lading for clearance so therefore I could not have gone to the port to clear it.”

“We agreed with the shipping company that the Honorable pays the freight charges in Ghana. Unfortunately, the container disappeared from the port without the payment of the freight and custom charges. The Honorable says he is not the one who cleared the container because he did not have the money to do so.”

“My conscience will never serve me right if I went to the port to clear the container when I do not have the right to do so. I suspect that he wants to create mischief but I still stand on my principles that I am no longer interested in the items,” Mr. Adu Asare noted.

The MP even went ahead to question how Dr. Ghansah managed to become a doctor and called for a probe.
A second attempt to get to Dr. Ghansah to respond to the MP’s allegation proved futile.