Posted on:
www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu
Saturday,
November 19, 2016
Pressure group OccupyGhana is jubilating over the Supreme Court’s decision
to allow former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Martin A.B.K. Amidu, to
cross-examine National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi
Woyome, in respect of the GH¢51.2
million unlawfully paid to him (Woyome) by the government.
The court, presided over by Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah, on Wednesday
granted Mr. Amidu - anti-corruption crusader - leave to examine Mr. Woyome as
to his means of livelihood, with a view to making those means and assets
available for enforcement.
“OccupyGhana salutes the Honourable Court for this fantastic ruling
and Mr. Amidu for not giving up the fight for Ghana to recover its monies from
Woyome,” the pressure group lauded in a statement yesterday. It added, “This ruling
is refreshing because it comes against the background of some shameful
responses to Mr. Amidu's sterling work, from our government and its surrogates;
and we would want to address those now.”
Peddling Falsehood
According to the group, some NDC members, including Communications
Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, a lawyer called Abraham Amaliba and even
President Mahama, had been peddling ‘falsehoods’ since Mr. Amidu intensified his resolve to retrieve the
huge amount from Mr. Woyome for the state.
OccupyGhana said the NDC’s comments were untrue because “There is no
way Woyome could or should have known about the application that was filed, and
then in reaction, write to the AG to say he was prepared to pay.
“The application that was filed on 12th October, 2016 was in
accordance with the applicable rules, an 'ex parte' application. An application
is said to be made 'ex parte' when it is taken for granted without notice to,
or contest by, any person adversely interested.
Thus, no formal notice of the
application was served on Woyome. He could therefore not have known about the
application, unless, once again, there are serious leaks in the AG's
Department.”
The group said, “We recall that it came out in the trial of Woyome
(when he was acquitted) that internal documents created in the AG's Department
were leaked to Woyome by persons working within that Department, and Woyome
gleefully tendered those documents in court, leading in part to his acquittal.
Thus, if what Amaliba said was true, then we are in worse trouble than we first
thought.”
Minister’s
Insults
OccupyGhana further said that on Saturday, 12th November 2016, Dr.
Omane-Boamah on Joy FM's ‘Newsfile’
programme, insulted and spewed all kinds of invectives at Mr. Amidu over the
Woyome issue and indicated that although Mr. Amidu had since given Dr. Omane-Boamah
a response, “one particular claim caught our attention.”
It recalled, “Omane-Boamah claimed that the AG had commenced
investigations into the actions of Lawyer Nerquaye-Tetteh - whose wife was reported
to have somehow earned GH¢400,000 from Woyome, after he was paid. Note that
Nerquaye-Tetteh was the lawyer tasked with handling the suit by Woyome against
Ghana, and who decided (or was instructed) not to oppose Woyome's claim.
“What the AG hoped Ghanaians would not notice, and which
Omane-Boamah deliberately did not disclose, was that the committee was mandated
to conclude its work and ‘submit a report with recommendations’ to the Legal
Service Board ‘within one month.’ It is apparent that no one within Government
or the AG's Department is mindful of that time limit, and a one-month mandate
can stretch into one year, without any queries or regrets. Yet, somehow the
people of Ghana are supposed to be confident in these institutions.”
Ghanaians’
Interest
OccupyGhana said, “Throughout this matter, the interest of Ghana has
been thrown to the dogs by those who have been elected or appointed and paid
with our taxes to protect our interest. They agreed to pay this money to Woyome
without a contract. They allowed him to amend his claim in court for more times
than was allowed, without lifting a finger in opposition. They decided not to
show up in court, thereby allowing him a free and uncontested route to a
default judgment.”
It added, “Even when they claimed to have discovered, belatedly,
that there was no contract with Woyome, they only put out a half-hearted effort
to reverse the mess that they had caused. Nothing is more painful than the fact
that after they had sued for a court to determine that we did not owe Woyome
anything, they still went ahead to pay the full amount to him; that was even
when a court had agreed that we could hold on to two-thirds of the amount.”
EOCO’s Inaction
According to OccupyGhana, “When EOCO was asked to investigate the
matter, they could only come up with a wishy-washy ‘preliminary report’ which
was more notorious for what it did not say than for the precious little it
said. When the matter broke, several government persons, including some who
have subsequently been rewarded with ministerial appointments, lined up to
defend Woyome without a shred of shame.”
They said even after Mr. Martin Amidu was successful in obtaining a
Supreme Court judgment against Woyome, there has been “a long and inexplicable
delay in enforcement, that has grown from being ridiculous to ludicrous by the
day. And it was a pathetic sight to see our Attorney General marshal several
top lawyers (paid with our taxes) to court to strenuously oppose Mr. Amidu's
application to examine Woyome.
“Woyome has bled us dry of GH₵51M of our tax
monies. Thanks to the Supreme Court and Mr. Amidu, he is no longer being
allowed to lead us by the nose around the park with a song and a dance; no,
thanks to the AG!”
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