I had agreement with Agyepong to serve as my witness – Afoko

The suspended National Chairman of the largest opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) Paul Afoko has said his bosom friend and suspended General Secretary of the party; Kwabena Agyepong has lied over claims that he (Afoko) had no agreement with him (Agyepong) to serve as his witness in court.

The media last week descended heavily on Mr Agyepong accusing him of betraying his trusted friend, Paul Afoko after he failed to turn up in court to support him in a case where the latter is contesting his suspension by the NPP.

Mr Agyepong was billed to appear in court on Thursday as a prosecution witness for Mr Afoko but many who attended the hearing were disappointed to learn that the former had declined to attend the proceeding.

At the hearing, Mr Afoko’s lawyers told the court that Mr Agyepong had indicated he was no longer available for that purpose.

Mr Agyepong’s Spokesperson, Mujib Rahman stated emphatically in an interview with Accra based Okay FM, that his boss never entered into any agreement with Mr Afoko to serve as a prosecution witness in his case.

“I know for a fact that my boss never discussed with anyone that he’ll be a witness in court. If he had an agreement with someone in this regard, he would have been in court. If you have a case in court and you want me to be a witness for you, we’ll have to discuss that for me to come to an agreement, but no such agreement was reached with Mr Afoko. So when the media started reporting this way we were shocked.”

But speaking to Okay FM Tuesday, Nana Yaw Osei, Spokesperson for Mr Paul Afoko stated that Mr Agyepong’s position on the issue cannot be the truth as it is not supported by any fact.

According to him, Mr Afoko engaged Mr Agyepong and reached an agreement with him to be his prosecution witness as far back as March following which the latter filed his witness statement in court.

“Mr Agyepong out of his own free will agreed to be a prosecution witness for Mr Afoko and communicated same in his witness statement to the court; the document was filed in court in March this year. If he has a change of mind it is his own business, he should never say that there was no agreement between them.

“We cannot put out all the facts about the sort of engagements that went on between the two parties in relation to this court case. Everything that was to be made to ensure he comes to court as witness was done. Mr Agyepong is old enough and decides what is good for him.

“His conduct is not a bother to Mr Afoko, but he wants the public to know that he indeed had an agreement with Mr Agyepong. It cannot be the case that Kwabena Agyepong didn’t know the date he was to appear as witness. I can produce an email from Mr Afoko’s lawyer informing Kwabena Agyepong that he was needed on a said date. It cannot be that lawyers of Afoko never met Mr Agyepong before the date he was to appear before court.”

Nana Yaw Osei however noted that Mr Agyepon’s refusal to turn up in court will not impact negatively on Mr Afoko’s case.

Asked whether Mr Afoko has engaged Mr Agyepong after his no show in court, Nana Yaw Osei said Mr Afoko is not interested in any such move.

There’s no need to meet Mr Agyepong over anything, when he was needed for the important assignment he failed to turn up in court, and so when he explains why he was absent, that will not change anything now.”