Agyapa Deal: Akufo-Addo acting like Pontius Pilate – Edudzi Tamakloe

Lawyer and aide to NDC Flagbearer John Mahama, Edudzi Tamakloe, has expressed disappointment and condemned President Akufo-Addo’s stance pertaining to the controversial Agyapa deal.

He chided the president for sitting on the fence with regards to the much talked about deal when he okayed the deal in the first place.

According to Lawyer Edudzi Tamakloe, rather than demonstrating leadership and taking responsibility for the gaffe by the Finance Minister about the Agyapa deal, he had taken the posture of a Pontius Pilate with his decision to let it go back to parliament.

Lawyer Tamakloe asserted that President Akufo-Addo gave the executive approval for the deal and hence should have taken a more active stance by withdrawing the deal completely after the report by the Special Prosecutor.

“If we’re to take on the face value the 64-page report of Martin Amidu and the subsequent conduct of the president…

“…The president’s decision just to refer the deal back to parliament for whatever it is, for me, casts the president in the mould of a person who does not consistently take responsibility. And so, his conduct looks like more of a Pontius Pilate than demonstrating leadership.

“Because remember in all of this, he gave executive approval for this deal and so if there’s a problem with it…but to create the impression that ‘let it go back to sender’, more or less for it to be reconsidered, is a bit regrettable,” Edudzi posited in an interview on Newsfile, Saturday.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has come under fire from stakeholders and his predecessor following the release of the report by Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu on the Agyapa deal.

He has been asked to outrightly withdraw the deal in its entirety and sanction the finance minister and other officials who were involved in the preparations of the controversial deal.