Dr. Tony Aidoo
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, January 29, 2013
Former
Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency, Dr. Tony Aidoo is angry
over what he sees as ‘crony capitalism’ within the President John Dramani
Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
The
ambassador-designate said he felt embarrassed by the scandal engulfing the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) now Ghana Youth
Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) under his own
government.
“I
feel very embarrassed as I sit here because for over eight years I was one of
the voice's that berated the Kufour (Former President) administration for crony
capitalism and today I see evidence of it in an NDC administration,” he told Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station on
Monday .
“It
should not have happened in the first place,” he fumed.
Dr.
Aidoo recalled the NDC in its 2008 manifesto pledged to establish a monitory
and evaluation system as a means to achieve accountability and followed it up
with setting up a unit, saying “The National Youth Employment Programme that
became GYEEDA is one of the units never ever submitted one data.”
He said constant reminders did not yield any result and there was no political muscle to ensure that people delivered.
He said constant reminders did not yield any result and there was no political muscle to ensure that people delivered.
“The
warning signals that could have come with adequate data, analysis of the data
and reportage to the Presidency that this is what is going was totally absent,”
he said.
Murtala Mohammed
A Minister’s Defence
A Deputy Minister of Information,
Murtala Mohammed has described as ‘disheartening’ the hauling of his former
boss Abuga Pele to court for causing financial loss to the state in the GYEEDA
scandal.
He is currently before the Financial
Court in Accra presided over by Justice Afia Asare-Botwe, charged for willfully
causing financial loss to the state to the tune of GHC3, 330,568.53.
The NDC MP for Chiana-Paga was accused of aiding one
Philip Akpeena Assibit, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Goodwill
International Group (GIG) to defraud the State of the said amount equivalent to
$1,948,626.68.
The two have denied the charges and are currently on
bail.
Sadness
Murtala Mohammed who was once a
deputy to Abuga Pele during the NYEP days said that it was ‘sad’ that thing
have turned out this way.
He wrote on his Facebook page that:
“Whatever the case is, I have no doubt whatsoever in the independence of our
judiciary to dispense justice at all times”.
“In as much as I can't and I
wouldn't stand in the way of justice, transparency and accountable governance,
particular the enormous commitment shown by this government in fighting
corruption and trying to expunge it from the annals of our political and
governance system as a sovereign state, I believe I can state without any
equivocation that Hon Abuga Pele gave his all to see (to) the success of the
programme he managed as the leader for barely 4 years”.
Franklin Cudjoe
Create and Loot
However, Franklin
Cudjoe, the founding President of Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, described the
GYEEDA programme as "vehicles to siphon money" from the state.
"Clearly there was no competitive
playing field, these were projects that were cooked and then handed over to
people,’’ he told an Accra based Citi FM on Saturday.
According to him there were no
competition and transparency in the GYEEDA modules and went ahead to describe
the programme as a “charade”.
The IMANI boss noted that the
government appeared to be treating Ghanaians as “toddlers” as far as the GYEEDA
issue was concerned.
“The reasons why we are evidently
angry is that we are being treated like toddlers…’’ he said.
Richard Nyamah
The Big Guys
Richard Nyamah, Chairman of Young
Patriots, a youth group within the NPP says he is not enthused by government’s
decision to be selective in the prosecution of officials cited in the GYEEDA
scandal.
“I wasn’t satisfied then and I’m
not satisfied now; I think the President would have to do more,” he told Citi
FM.
He said it would serve the country better if the
government set its eyes on what he called the ‘big fishes’ involved in the
scandal.
‘’The quantity of money we are talking
about is in excess of GH¢200million; Mr Abuga Pele and the company we are
talking about here is about GH¢5 million, we have some GH¢195million that is
not being accounted for,’’ he said.
Mr. Nyamah questioned what had happened to the
then Minister of Youth and Sports, Clement Humado who he claimed signed most of
the GYEEDA contracts.
''You have Honourable Clement Humado who is also a Member of Parliament who signed off all these contracts; if today we are saying that those contracts were fraudulent, I think the person who signed the contracts in the name of the government has been engaged in fraud....''
''But if Mr Humado is not being hauled before the court for signing contracts in excess of GH¢200 million, then Abuga Pele is a small one,'' he reiterated.
Writer's email: yawowusu74@gmail.com
''You have Honourable Clement Humado who is also a Member of Parliament who signed off all these contracts; if today we are saying that those contracts were fraudulent, I think the person who signed the contracts in the name of the government has been engaged in fraud....''
''But if Mr Humado is not being hauled before the court for signing contracts in excess of GH¢200 million, then Abuga Pele is a small one,'' he reiterated.
Writer's email: yawowusu74@gmail.com
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