I have not stripped Akufo-Addo of his Presidency - Osafo Maafo

Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo has rejected claims made by Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, that he [Osafo-Maafo] ‘stripped Akufo-Addo of the Presidency’ after comments he made on the credibility of Jospong Group of companies.

In a release made available to GhanaWeb.com, the Office of the Senior Minister stated that; “the Office of the Senior Minister wishes to state in unequivocal terms that there is no iota of truth in the claim that the Hon. Senior Minister made statements which can be construed to have “stripped” H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the Presidency as purported by the Hon. MP, Alhaji Fuseini.”

The Senior Minister during a panel discussion at the launch of the Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week in Accra according to earlier reports contradicted the President's view of the Jospong Group.

President Akufo-Addo during a visit to the Accra Compost and Recycling Plant at Adjen Kotoku last month empathized with the founder and Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Dr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, over the various corruption claims levelled against him.

“When you are at the forefront of doing things like you are, you will be the subject of controversy, it goes with the territory. I know you a little bit, and I know you are capable of handling it. Stay focused,” the President encouraged.

Mr. Osafo-Maafo in response to a question asked during the panel discussion noted that the President’s words for Mr. Agyepong "will not be right” if the allegations against him were correct, saying, “It’s certainly not right. It will give the wrong signals if you are seen to be pampering or endorsing a known wrongdoer.”

But Hon. Inusah Fuseini says Osafo Maafo’s response was disrespectful to the President and questioned his ability to execute his duties as Senior Minister.

“The chicken has come home to roost… the centre cannot hold any longer. As an appointee of the president, you are under the obligation to protect the president, defend and serve him. He did the exact opposite and became the president,” Mr. Fuseini said.

The Senior Minister elucidated that, in response to a question as to why in spite of the fact that the World Bank branded Zoomlion as corrupt yet President Akufo-Addo urged the CEO of Zoomlion to “take courage, to continue to clean our cities”, the Hon. Senior Minister said “the Government cannot depend on commentaries made by international bodies to prosecute. That is why institutions like CHRAJ, EOCO, and Police CID etc. are there to investigate any wrongdoing. We should, therefore, be careful otherwise we destroy our indigenous businesses who are doing well in our nation-building.”

Employing several hundreds in various sects under the conglomerate, many find it hard to swallow negative rumours about a business that creates jobs and contributes greatly to development.

A recent investigation by Multimedia Journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni revealed that a contract issued by the Group to attain about a million waste bins and nine hundred thousand disposable bin liners, was likely increased by GHC130 million.

Below is the full statement

REJOINDER: “OSAFO-MAAFO'S CRITICISM 'STRIPPED AKUFO-ADDO OF PRESIDENCY' – FUSEINI”

Hon. Alhaji Fuseini, NDC MP for Tamale Central’s comments above dated 5th December 2017 on Ghanaweb has been brought to the attention of the Office of the Senior Minister.

The Office of the Senior Minister wishes to state in unequivocal terms that there is no iota of truth in the claim that, the Hon. Senior Minister has made statements which can be construed to have “stripped” H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the Presidency as purported by the Hon. MP, Alhaji Fuseini.

The Hon. Senior Minister was on a panel discussion under the theme “NACAP: Strengthening Public, Private and Civil Society Partnership in the Fight Against Corruption” with H.E. Robert P. Jackson, US Ambassador to Ghana, Prof. Asafo Adjei, Senior Research Fellow of the IEA and the CEO of Private Enterprise Federation (PEF), Nana Osei- Bonsu.

It was the Hon. Senior Minister who, on behalf of H.E. the President, launched the “Anti-Corruption and Transparency Week Celebration which was well attended by heads of CHRAJ, JUDICIAL SERVICE, AG’s OFFICE, NCCE, EOCO, IEA, CDD-GHANA, US EMBASSY, PENPLUSBYTES, EU-ARAP among others.

In response to a question as to why in spite of the fact that the World Bank branded Zoomlion as corrupt yet President Akufo-Addo urged the CEO of Zoomlion to *take courage to continue to clean our cities”,

The Hon. Senior Minister said “the Government cannot depend on commentaries made by international bodies to prosecute. That is why institutions like CHRAJ, EOCO, and Police CID etc. are there to investigate any wrongdoing. We should, therefore, be careful otherwise we destroy our indigenous businesses who are doing well in our nation-building”.

We would like to ask the Tamale Central MP, who was not present at the launching, of the kind of objective he sought to achieve by creating the mischief of discrediting the able and hardworking Hon. Senior Minister giving his role of coordinating the economic sectors and oversight responsibilities of the Public Sector Reforms in the Government of H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo. Hon. Alhaji Fuseini should rather advise himself not to engage in concocted lies and propaganda.

Hon. Alhaji Fusieni, the Tamale Central MP should realise that, the Hon. Senior Minister remains resolute and committed to working to ensure that H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo’s Government will make corruption unattractive for any public official, agency or institution and the judicious spending of our resources in improving the living conditions of Ghanaians through macroeconomic stability, FREE SHS, 1D1F, NHIS, School Feeding Programme, etc.

OFFICE OF THE SENIOR MINISTER

6th December, 2017