I Still Stand By Peprah And Co – JAM

The Presidential candidate of the NDC, Professor Atta Mills says he still stands by the convicted officials of the NDC who have been sentenced to various jail terms by an Accra Fast Track Court. Former Finance Minister, Kwame Peprah was sentenced to four years in jail for his role in the Quality Grain case which led to the loss of more than 20 million dollars to the state.

Former Minister of Food and Agriculture and former Legal Director at the Finance Ministry, Dr George Sipa Yankey were sentenced to two years each in jail.

In his reaction to the ruling, Prof Mills told JOY FM that the two-year old case presided over by Justice Dixon Afreh has vindicated his party’s position that it was politically motivated.

He said although he had known Justice Afreh for the past 13 years and respected him, he found it difficult to understand why the Judge took a swipe at him during the ruling just because as a vice President in the former government, he took interest in the project to ensure its success.

Professor Mills was unhappy that Justice Afreh referred to him as a shadow director of the Aveyime Rice project. ''After listening to all these, I asked myself, are we listening to a political statement or we are in a court of law''.

Professor Mills was particularly concerned that Justice Afreh’s assertion that he would have been lenient if the officials had pleaded on the grounds that they were acting on superior orders, made their conviction baseless.

Meanwhile, NDC General Secretary, Dr Nii Josiah Aryeh has in his reaction to the ruling, bemoaned the criminalization of the actions of the public officials. Describing the law under which the three officials were convicted as nebulous, Dr Aryeh, a lawyer by profession says while some money has been lost, the convicted persons did not misappropriate any funds.

One of the many issues that have come up is the call for the repeal of the law on causing financial loss to the state. The calls have become even louder, especially from the NDC, which promulgated the law while in power. Speaking on JOY FM’s Super morning Show, the press secretary to the President, Kwabena Agyepong asked the NDC to initiate proceedings for the repeal of the law through its MPs.