Demonstration by Concerned NDC members

PETITION PRESENTED BY THE CONCERNED NDC MEMBERS DURING A DEMONSTRATION TO THE OSU CASTLE TO PRESS HOME DEMANDS FOR THE GOVERNMENT CABINET OF 2005/2006 TO BE COMPELLED TO COOPERATE WITH EOCO INVESTIGATIONS ON JUDGEMENT DEBT PAYMENT

This demonstration has become necessary because our previous call on the government during our press conference of 17th January 2012 has not been heeded to.

In the said press conference, which was attended by hundreds of ordinary Ghanaian men and women who were extremely concerned about why the recklessness of the government cabinet of 2005/2006 compelled the state to pay huge sums of money in judgement debts, we expressed the following concerns;

1. The recent pronouncements by the Courts of Ghana for the state to pay huge Judgment debts to many institutions and individuals, demonstrate the extent to which the NPP government was most reckless, corrupt and incompetent during their eight years experiment in government.

2. The attempts by the guilty and corrupt NPP functionaries, who want to use the media to cover up their crimes by attacking the Courts for doing their job is shameful. In our view, this is a deliberate attempt to bastardize the real facts, especially when they, the NPP are privy to the administrative negligence and professional ineptitude of the erstwhile NPP government in this matter. It betrays their commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Can the payments of all judgment debts be mistakes? The NPP must stop hiding behind the media and account for their stewardship to Ghanaians, including their role in how the state lost huge sums of money in Judgement debt.

3. The sponsored media attacks on the person of Mr. Woyome who has a court judgement and is cooperating fully with the EOCO investigations demonstrate that the NPP are afraid of accountability and have a lot to hide.

4. This lawlessness as exhibited by this bunch of irresponsible NPP politicians’ stands to undermine the legitimacy of state institutions, as many people will not see the essence of using the courts to seek justice if they become victims of a bad business transaction. It will also increase the Political Risk Insurance of the country because potential investors will not invest in countries where decisions are not made based on legal considerations but political expediency.

At the 17th January 2012 Press briefing, we commended the idea to set up the EOCO to investigate the issue of judgement debt but we also made the following demands which have not been heeded to:

5. That Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey must be arrested immediately for ordering alleged criminals in the NPP not to cooperate with on-going investigations by the EOCO. We find the actions of Obetsebi Lamptey to be criminal. Anybody who acts to protect criminals or stand in the way of lawful investigations is himself a criminal who must be prosecuted.

6. We also called on Mr. Akufo Addo to immediately resign his position as the flag bearer of the NPP because the investigation team at EOCO wants him for his role in the government cabinet of 2005/2006 that abrogated a legitimate contract, which has been approved by the Central Tender Review Board through the procurement process.

7. Not only that, we also demanded of Ex-President John Kufour to stop running away from accounting for his eight years stewardship in government. He must explain to the EOCO the process under which he awarded the construction and rehabilitation of the stadia for CAN 2008 to the Shangai Construction Group. How much it cost the nation to construct those stadia, and why he interfered with the procurement process that had awarded the contract to a legitimate company, which satisfied all the technical and financial conditions of the contract?

We the concerned members of the NDC wish to state the following:

8. We cannot be safe and peaceful knowing that criminals are living among us. It is too dangerous and uncomfortable. We have been alarmed by the extent to which these criminals trying to run away from justice have deployed their ill gotten resources to incite the public against the government and lawful state institutions like the courts and the Economic and Organize Crime Office.

9. Indeed, it is understood that these nation wreckers have already taken over parliament, the courts, and the confusion currently underway in the A-G’s Department demonstrate their potency to cause mayhem in every facet of government if they are not stopped immediately. In fact they can collapse the government same way as they did to Kwame Nkrumah.

It is natural for the criminals in the NPP to quarrel over Court judgments, which implicates them. But it is not for criminal to determine how they should be investigated. The president must stamp his authority by bringing them to justice.

We are also scandalized by the noisy silence of decent Ghanaians and civil society groups like the media commission, the Ghana Pentecostal Council, the BAR association, TUC etc who have turned a blind eye as the NPP hide behind the media and politics to destroy court verdicts and runaway from their huge crimes against the state. As the saying goes, evil triumph when good men refuse to act. At the very least, they can advice the NPP to address legal issues in the courts not the media and call on Akufo Addo to resign his Presidential ambitions on moral grounds until he has purged himself of all allegations of fraud leading to huge Judgement debt imposition on the state.

Finally, we wish to call on Justice I. O Amadu Tanko to stand firm despite vilifications following his ruling on the judgement debt.

We equally urge the EOCO not to be intimidated. We are absolutely confident that they have the legal mandate and the professional competence to solve the mystery surrounding the biggest organized crime which involves the entire cabinet of Ex-President Kufour in 2005/2006.

Paul Semey – 0243438580

Hajia Sherifatu Sule 024350666

Bernard Dartey – 0203916161

Robert Kpeteme 0242380821

Napoleon Nyamekeh – 0247110846

Simon Nassandin – 0277485838

Abdul Manaf Sulley – 0208868568

Hajia Fati 0243764595