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Kwaku Baako & Gov't Challanged...

Tue, 8 Oct 2002 Source: Chronicle

......drag Rawlings to court, if u have evidence

Both the Western regional chairman of the NDC, Nana Alex Asamoah and the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Bekwai, Hon. Seidu Adamu, have challenged Kwaku Baako Jnr. and the NPP government to drag ex-President Rawlings and his family to court for prosecution, if they have incriminating evidence that the couple have stashed money away in foreign bank accounts.

They contended that if the NPP government had found an incriminating evidence against ex-President Rawlings and his wife for stashing money away in foreign bank accounts but had still refused to prosecute them, then the government itself has something in its cupboard and would not want it to be exposed.

They argued that under the laws of Ghana, it is always the complainant in a case who has to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegation he has levelled against an accused person but not the accused going to court to prove his innocence.

Addressing a news conference at the party's regional headquarters in Sekondi last Sunday, Nana Asamoah in particular said Kwaku Baako and the NPP government seemed to have devised a strategy to paint Rawlings black in the eyes of the international community but all their plans had failed.

According to Asamoah, Mr. Baako who is also the Editor of the Crusading Guide has for sometime now been accusing Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings of having stashed money in foreign bank accounts in Europe.

The NDC chairman further told the press that investigations they have so far conducted have revealed that the bank being named by Kwaku Baako is a merchant bank which does not deal with private individual accounts.

He contended that apart from naming the so-called foreign bank account number being operated by Nana Konadu, Baako has woefully failed to give documentary evidence to back his case.

"If Kwaku Baako claims he has the evidence, he must go to court for Nana Konadu to come and defend herself," he added.

According to Alex Asamoah, the NPP government on assumption of office has been doing everything possible to trace the foreign bank accounts of ex-President Rawlings but to no avail.

He alleged that the government even asked its US counterpart to help it trace the foreign bank account of ex-president but the US told the government they have no evidence to that effect.

According to him the only foreign bank accounts that ex-President Rawlings has is the recent one that was opened to enable him receive his allowance from the United Nations.

Nana Asamoah who was flanked by Ms. Tabitha Quaye, former MP for Takoradi, told journalists from both the state and private media that Ghana is currently confronted with so many problems but, instead of sitting down to find a lasting solution to them, the government is only interested in how to destroy Jerry Rawlings.

According to him, the smuggling of cocoa to Ivory Coast through the country's Western border has reached its peak because the NPP government has refused to pay the Ghanaian cocoa farmer the world market price of the product.

"Let me tell you because you may not know it. The Jomoro district assembly alone is spending ?1.2 million a day on the police and military men who are patrolling the border to curb cocoa smuggling," he said, adding that if the government had decided to pay the world market price to the farmers, this money (?1.2m) could have been saved to embark on other development projects in the district.

Hon. Seidu Paakuna Adamu on his part, called on the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo to direct his attention to the proper development of the region especially its road infrastructure.

According to him all the foreign loans that were contracted by the NDC government to put roads in the region in good shape appears to have been cancelled by the NPP government.

He mentioned the Inchaban-Sekondi road, Enchi and Amenfi-Asankragwa road as some of the roads whose loans were contracted and approved by Parliament before the NDC left office.

Adamu said what shocked him most was when Hon. Papa Owusu Ankomah came to Sekondi brandishing a letter purported to have emanated from the Ministry of Finance, assuring his constituency that the Inchaban-Sekondi road way ready for construction.

"Since he made this public statement some months ago, have you seen any contractor on the road," he asked.

Adamu, a former deputy Western Regional Minister, said the government had cancelled the loans because it wants to repackage them and then take the credit at a time the people are suffering from the poor road infrastructure in the region.

......drag Rawlings to court, if u have evidence

Both the Western regional chairman of the NDC, Nana Alex Asamoah and the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Bekwai, Hon. Seidu Adamu, have challenged Kwaku Baako Jnr. and the NPP government to drag ex-President Rawlings and his family to court for prosecution, if they have incriminating evidence that the couple have stashed money away in foreign bank accounts.

They contended that if the NPP government had found an incriminating evidence against ex-President Rawlings and his wife for stashing money away in foreign bank accounts but had still refused to prosecute them, then the government itself has something in its cupboard and would not want it to be exposed.

They argued that under the laws of Ghana, it is always the complainant in a case who has to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegation he has levelled against an accused person but not the accused going to court to prove his innocence.

Addressing a news conference at the party's regional headquarters in Sekondi last Sunday, Nana Asamoah in particular said Kwaku Baako and the NPP government seemed to have devised a strategy to paint Rawlings black in the eyes of the international community but all their plans had failed.

According to Asamoah, Mr. Baako who is also the Editor of the Crusading Guide has for sometime now been accusing Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings of having stashed money in foreign bank accounts in Europe.

The NDC chairman further told the press that investigations they have so far conducted have revealed that the bank being named by Kwaku Baako is a merchant bank which does not deal with private individual accounts.

He contended that apart from naming the so-called foreign bank account number being operated by Nana Konadu, Baako has woefully failed to give documentary evidence to back his case.

"If Kwaku Baako claims he has the evidence, he must go to court for Nana Konadu to come and defend herself," he added.

According to Alex Asamoah, the NPP government on assumption of office has been doing everything possible to trace the foreign bank accounts of ex-President Rawlings but to no avail.

He alleged that the government even asked its US counterpart to help it trace the foreign bank account of ex-president but the US told the government they have no evidence to that effect.

According to him the only foreign bank accounts that ex-President Rawlings has is the recent one that was opened to enable him receive his allowance from the United Nations.

Nana Asamoah who was flanked by Ms. Tabitha Quaye, former MP for Takoradi, told journalists from both the state and private media that Ghana is currently confronted with so many problems but, instead of sitting down to find a lasting solution to them, the government is only interested in how to destroy Jerry Rawlings.

According to him, the smuggling of cocoa to Ivory Coast through the country's Western border has reached its peak because the NPP government has refused to pay the Ghanaian cocoa farmer the world market price of the product.

"Let me tell you because you may not know it. The Jomoro district assembly alone is spending ?1.2 million a day on the police and military men who are patrolling the border to curb cocoa smuggling," he said, adding that if the government had decided to pay the world market price to the farmers, this money (?1.2m) could have been saved to embark on other development projects in the district.

Hon. Seidu Paakuna Adamu on his part, called on the Western Regional Minister, Hon. Joseph Boahen Aidoo to direct his attention to the proper development of the region especially its road infrastructure.

According to him all the foreign loans that were contracted by the NDC government to put roads in the region in good shape appears to have been cancelled by the NPP government.

He mentioned the Inchaban-Sekondi road, Enchi and Amenfi-Asankragwa road as some of the roads whose loans were contracted and approved by Parliament before the NDC left office.

Adamu said what shocked him most was when Hon. Papa Owusu Ankomah came to Sekondi brandishing a letter purported to have emanated from the Ministry of Finance, assuring his constituency that the Inchaban-Sekondi road way ready for construction.

"Since he made this public statement some months ago, have you seen any contractor on the road," he asked.

Adamu, a former deputy Western Regional Minister, said the government had cancelled the loans because it wants to repackage them and then take the credit at a time the people are suffering from the poor road infrastructure in the region.

Source: Chronicle