I Was Jailed For Being Stupid ? Peprah

The former Minister of Finance, Kwame Peprah says he and his two colleagues were convicted only because the trial judge found them to have acted stupidly in the funding of the Aveyime Rice project. ?Justice Afreh said in the open court that we did not steal, we were not corrupt, and we did not benefit in any way personally from it, but we, what do you call it, caused financial loss to the state. This means that we were convicted for being stupid?, said Peprah.

Mr Peprah said this when the Editors of three newspapers, Mawuko Zormelo of Network Herald, Egbert Faibille Jnr of the Independent and Asare Otchere-Darko of the Statesman went to the Nsawam Medium Security Prison to visit him, Victor Selormey, Ibrahim Adams and George Sipa Yankey, all former government officials in the NDC administration.

He also expressed surprise at his conviction for granting a $2 million loan to Ms Cotton?s Quality Grain Company after she accused the NDC government of reneging on their promises to provide equipment and clear the Aveyime site for the rice plantation.

?In giving his witness statement, Prof Mills admitted that he gave me the authority to assess Ms Cotton?s claim for reimbursement and use my discretion on how much she was to be paid. Yet when it came to the judgement, Justice Afreh said that I granted the loan without any authority. Infact, knowing the project will be eventually profitable, it was my decision to turn the $2 million into a loan to her company?, Peprah said.

The three inmates were in high spirits but complained about the poor sanitary conditions, bad food (which they refuse to eat) and lack of basic medical facilities for the inmates. The prison with 2,270 inmates has no medical doctor and has a single vehicle for the use of inmates.

Peprah says that after reading the judgement, on countless occasions, while behind bars, he still struggles to understand why he was convicted. Sipa Yankey was not at the meeting, since he was reported to be engrossed in a novel. Victor Selormey told the reporters that while he wouldn?t wish prison life for anybody, prison life has definitely been more bearable for him, since his three colleagues joined him at Nsawam. ?It used to be very lonely?, he recalled.

All the three Ministers were of the opinion that they did not deserve their current penal fate.