By
William Yaw Owusu
Monday,
September 04, 2017
Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has
described as ‘scurrilous’ and ‘unwarranted’ the allegations of corruption
leveled against her by her colleague New Patriotic Party (NPP) member, Kennedy
Ohene Agyapong.
Mr. Agyapong, who is the Member of Parliament (MP)
for Assin Central, was alleged to have said that his colleague MP for Ablekuma
Central and Minister of Communications, Ms Owusu-Ekuful, supervised a
corruption-ridden process in the award of contract to produce National
Identification cards by the National Identification Authority (NIA).
Presidential
Directive
As a result, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
intervened, asking the Ghana Police Service to investigate the allegations.
However, the Assin Central MP, later stated that he
never mentioned the communications minister as being corrupt neither did he
make reference to the two deputy chiefs of staff at the presidency.
Ursula, as she is affectionately called, finally
broke her silence last Friday when she said in a statement that “I am
constrained to respond to the unwarranted and scurrilous allegations leveled
against me in my capacity as Minister of Communications.
“These untruths have been widely and erroneously
repeated in various media. I categorically refute the allegations of corruption
made against me in relation to the award of the contract for the production of
national identification cards by Mr Kennedy Agyapong.”
Patently
False
She pointed out, “they are patently false and I
challenge him to come forward with evidence that corroborates his outlandish
allegations.”
Giving a background to the case, Ursula said,
“Following a comprehensive review and report by the technical and legal
committees established by H.E the Vice President in January 2017, the
government determined that the agreement between the National Identification
Authority (NIA) and Identity Management Systems (IMS) constituted a ‘viable and
effective’ vehicle for the implementation of a modern, robust and reliable
National Identification System (NIS) for Ghana. Subsequently, H.E the President
formally directed the National Identification Authority to engage with IMS to
ensure efficient roll-out of the NID.”
Important
Clarification
“The falsehoods are clearly born out of ignorance so
it is important to clarify that the NIA is not an agency under the ministry of
communications; that is why the directive was signed by the Chief of Staff in
the Office of the President. In accordance with the law of the land, the NIA’s
reporting line is directly to the Office of the President,” she explained.
The minister said, “Consequently, as the minister of
communications, I did not and could not have awarded the contract for the NID,
or indeed oversee the process, it would have been ultra vires.”
She said that the ministry of communications,
alongside other agencies of government, “is however a key stakeholder in the
national identification project,” adding, “Those others include Social Security
and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), National Information Technology Agency
(NITA), Births and Deaths Registry, National Health Insurance Authority, Driver
and Vehicle Licensing Authority, amongst others.
“We are thus actively in collaboration with the NIA
and IMS to ensure the timely and efficient roll-out of the national ID cards in
line with the government’s agenda.”
CID
Probe
Madam Ursla Owusu-Ekufful said she welcomes the
investigations by the CID, saying, “Even though I am yet to be contacted, I
will cooperate with the law enforcement agencies to ascertain the truth.
“A strong message needs to be sent to those who
deliberately disseminate disinformation. I look forward to a swift resolution
of this matter.”
Ken’s
Denial
Mr Kennedy Agyapong, in the heat of the debate, said
last week that he did not mention the name of the communications minister and
added that contrary to claims that he had been ostracized by the government,
the president granted him audience for about three hours.
He, however, refused to explain his allegations that
some people were demanding $20,000 from investors before they could have access
to the president.
No
New Contract
Over the weekend, the Executive Secretary of the
NIA, Prof Kenneth Agyemang Attafuah, waded into the matter, describing Mr.
Agyapong’s allegation as ‘baseless’ and ‘untrue.’
The criminologist told Joy FM that there was no new NID contract awarded by the NPP
government; it was rather an existing contract signed with IMS in 2012 during
the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration that was being activated.
“In this instance, NIA has not signed a contract,
neither has the Akufo-Addo presidency or government signed a contract with
Margins or any company whatsoever. The NIA has not opened a bid for the
National ID project. It has not received any bids or submissions from any
person, entity or body whatsoever,” he fumed, adding, “Kennedy Agyapong has not
submitted any bid to the NIA in respect of the National ID project.”
Bid
Evaluation
Prof Attafuah continued, “NIA has not evaluated any
bid from any quarters at all in connection with this matter. What the
government has decided to do following the report of a technical committee
established by the vice president to advice government on what to do about the
NIA, is that government had determined that the existing contractual agreement
between the NIA and Identity Management System, which is a subsidiary of the
Margins Group of companies, for the production of ID cards to foreigners
lawfully resident in this country, constitute a viable framework for giving to
the people of Ghana a robust, modern national smart card and identification
system.
“Therefore the NIA should proceed with that
arrangement which existed prior to the NPP coming into power.
A-Plus
Invitation
In a related development, the Criminal
Investigations Department (CID) has formally written to controversial musician
and satirist, Kwame Asare Obeng, popularly called Kwame A-Plus, recently to
assist in investigating his claim that two deputy chiefs of staff were engaged
in corruption.
President Akufo-Addo ordered the Financial Forensic
Unit of the CID to look into the cases involving Samuel Abu Jinapor and Francis
Asenso-Boakye.
A letter A-Plus displayed on social media which was
signed by CID Director-General, COP Bright Oduro, asked the musician to report
to the CID headquarters in Accra tomorrow to assist the police in the
investigations.
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