FLASHBACK: Kufuor set the tone for corruption - General Mosquito

General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Aseidu Nketiah in February 2004 alleged that John Agyekum Kufour who was then the president of the country normalized corruption amongst government officials in the country.

Mr Aseidu Nketiah who was the Member of Parliament for Wenchi West then, accused the former President, John Agyekum Kufour of using state money to renovate his private residence in Accra.

A report by The Chronicle stated that, “General Mosquito regretted that when they, the minority in parliament, dragged President Kufuor to The Commission for Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to come and answer why he should use state resources to renovate his private residence, CHRAJ used technicalities to dismiss the case, forgetting that they did not use the same procedure when a key witness failed to appear before them in a similar case they investigated during the NDC regime.”

Mr Nketiah is quoted to have said, “This NPP government is the most corrupt government this country has ever had. All that they have stolen would be exposed when we finally take over power, they failed to get any corruption charge against NDC ministers so they went to the file and brought the law on causing financial loss to the state, which they have used, to jail some of the NDC ministers.”

Read the full story originally published on February 3, 2004, by The Chronicle

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Wenchi West, Hon. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, popularly known as General Mosquito, has accused President Kufuor of setting up the tone for corruption that has engulfed his government by allegedly using state money to renovate his private residence in Accra.

He said President Kufuor himself knew this and that was why he was finding it very difficult to either cause investigation or prosecute members of his government who have been accused of indulging in corrupt practices.

General Mosquito regretted that when they, the minority in parliament, dragged President Kufuor to The Commission for Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to come and answer why he should use state resources to renovate his private residence, CHRAJ used technicalities to dismiss the case, forgetting that they did not use the same procedure when a key witness failed to appear before them in a similar case they investigated during the NDC regime.

Addressing an NDC gathering which was organized by the Takoradi constituency branch of the party to outdoor the new party ID cards in Takoradi last Saturday, Hon. Asiedu Nketiah said though the Kufuor-led government claimed to have passed the right to information bill to enable journalists have access to information, they have at the same time refused to prosecute ministers who have been accused by newspapers for indulging in corruption.

General Mosquito noted that even ex-President Rawlings, whom President Kufuor and his government had been accusing of being undemocratic, allowed the CHRAJ to cause full scale investigations into the allegations leveled against Messrs P.V. Obeng and Osei Wusu, among others, by some newspapers in the country.

Hon. Nketiah regretted that today the so-called democratic government was refusing to allow the state investigative agencies to investigate its members against whom various newspaper allegations had been levelled.

He said to make the situation worst President Kufuor had systematically made the operations of these state investigative agencies ineffective by sacking former chief executives and bringing in people who are either overaged or ready to kowtow to their demands to protect their new appointments.

General Mosquito told the noisy supporters that the renovation of the Osu Castle, which is the seat of government and the current corruption that has engulfed the Tema Municipal Assembly, ought to have been investigated but President Kufuor has kept mute on the issue.

Nketiah noted that because of the refusal of the Kufuor-led government to investigate the TMA, the latter had the audacity to go on air that they had sacked the MP for Tema West, who was challenging their corrupt practices.

“This NPP government is the most corrupt government this country has ever had. All that they have stolen would be exposed when we finally take over power,” he said, amid we shall prosecute them by the partisan crowd.

Hon. John Mahama, MP for Bole-Bamboi, on his part, said the NPP government came to power through lies.

According to him, they polluted the minds of Ghanaians that members of NDC government had looted state coffers but today “they are doing worst things.”

“They failed to get any corruption charge against NDC ministers so they went to the file and brought the law on causing financial loss to the state, which they have used, to jail some of the NDC ministers,” he said.

Mahama said it was unfortunate that President Kufuor and his Attorney General had been going round telling Ghanaians to come forward to substantiate the various newspaper allegations that had been made against his ministers.

He said it was not the duty of the citizens to substantiate such allegations.

According to him, that responsibility rests solely on the state investigative agencies that have the constitutional mandate to investigate such cases, which they have refused to do.

The soft-spoken MP also criticized the economic policies of the government, which he noted had made the plight of Ghanaians worst.

He mentioned the astronomical increase in the price of petroleum products, the withdrawal of subsidies on electricity and water, which were all IMF directives that the government accepted.

John Mahama said the new NDC manifesto, which they are going to launch in May, this year, would outline sound policies the next NDC government would implement to make life bearable for Ghanaians.

“In fact we are going to change the current system when we finally get hold of power,” he added.