Former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and the ex- chief executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr. Samuel Addokwei Addo, have finally spoken. Nana Konadu vehemently denied ever ordering the ex-AMA boss through a phone call to give a building permit to the Mormons, while Addokwei Addo also denied ever receiving such a call from Nana Konadu.
The two were responding separately to Chronicle inquiries. I
n her response to Chronicle inquiries through Mr. Victor Smith, the former First Lady was quoted as saying that she had never received any gift(s) from the Mormons neither, did she order Mr. Addokwei Addo to give the Mormons a building permit.
She described allegations against her as having received gifts from the Mormons and ordering the ex-AMA boss to give them a building permit as ridiculous.
The former First Lady has categorically denied these allegations and said that she never received any gift from the Mormons, neither did she receive any delegation from the Church. She said it is not true that she ordered Mr. Addokwei Addo to issue the Mormons any permit, Victor Smith quoted the former first lady as saying.
According to Mr. Victor Smith, the former first lady said that the only thing she remembers is that, during one of the disasters that hit the country, the 31st December Women's Movement appealed for support for victims of the disaster and the Mormons were among the group of many organizations who donated second hand clothes to the victims of the disaster.
Mr. Addokwei Addo also denied ever receiving such a phone call from the former First Lady, ordering him to give the building permit to the Mormons, and described the claim as laughable.
"I just laugh over some of these things. This is not true; the former first lady did not call me. You see, I, Addokwei Addo, cannot issue permit, I am only a chairman of the Accra Metropolitan Planning Committee (AMPC), and the committee consists of about seventeen other members, representing various agencies I only superintend," he said.
He noted that AMPC cannot issue building permits just on anybody's instruction, adding that building permits are very serious documents that is why the approval of permits goes through such a long and rigorous processes.
Mr. Addokwei Addo also noted that it is very difficult for anybody to interfere with the work of the AMPC because if the AMPC, which is a statutory organization, grants a wrong permit, the AMA will pull it down and this will cost the state a lot of money since compensation would have to be paid to the owner of such a property.
Mr. Addokwei Addo who was available for further comments said that there are two permits, which have to be granted before any construction can begin. He said the first permit was a planning permit which, if approved, gave authorization to construct a structure.
The second permit, was the building permit, which gives the green light for actual construction work to begin. He further explained that without a planning permit a building permit could not be issued.
When asked when the permit for the Mormons was issued, Mr. Addo said he could not remember the year and asked the Chronicle to contact the Secretary of the AMPC. He also noted that the Mormons' application for permit has had a very checkered history and that it began before he took office. When Chronicle contacted the office of the secretary to AMPC it learnt that he was on sick leave.
In a previous interview with other members of the committee, Chronicle recollects that it was said that the permit was issued on June 4, 2001.
THE ALLEGATIONS
The above allegations against the former First Lady and Mr. Addokwei Addo were made by the managing editor of The Independent, Mr. Egbert Fabille Junior, during Good Morning Ghana programme - a Metro TV newspaper review program. He said that former first lady, after receiving a gift from the Mormons, called Mr. Addokwei Addo via phone to issue the permit.
Following these allegations Mr. Egbert Fabille also dared the former First Lady and Mr. Addokwei Addo on the Media Review programme on Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station to come public and refute the allegations.
Mr. Fabille who claims to have done extensive investigations into the Mormon scandal also admitted before the Chronicle reporter that at the time he made the allegations against the former first lady former, he had not contacted her, nor the ex-AMA boss to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the allegations. He also said he hadn't spoken to the AMPC.
Asked whether he could prove these allegations against the former first lady and Mr. Addokwei Addo, he said he had no reason to doubt his sources, adding that his source heard the former first lady making that call.
THE COFFEE SHOP MEETING
Soon after Chronicle ran the story of the Mormons, Chronicle reporter Raymond Archer received a phone call one night from a source who told him that a group of what he described as "senior journalists" had met at the Coffee Shop about the story.
According to the source, the managing editor of the Independent, Mr. Egbert Fabille, had said that he will "go after" the Chronicle reporter who did the story. The source also mentioned the names of the journalists who were at the meeting.
Following this message, Mr. Archer called Mr. Egbert Fabille on his mobile phone the next day to ascertain the truthfulness or otherwise of the message. Mr. Fabille admitted making the statement, but said that he said so because the reporter had stated that his comments about the story were untrue.
Mr. Fabille told Mr. Archer that he knew the journalist who told Mr. Archer about the fact that he had said that he would go after him.
He said that they were only ten at that meeting and that the only journalist he suspected to have told Mr. Archer what he said was the managing editor of the National Concord who apparently was not present at that meeting.
Mr. Archer told him that the last time he saw the managing editor of the National Concord was about four days prior to the incident and that he was not the one who informed him.
THE COFFEE SHOP FIGHT
On Saturday, Mr. Egbert Fabille was reported to have confronted the said journalist over the issue, saying that he had evidence that he was the one who called Mr. Archer to tell him about the fact that he Egbert had said that he will go after him.
According to eyewitnesses, the verbal exchanges nearly resulted in an exchange of blows, but for the timely intervention of Mr. Kweku Baako of the Crusading Guide who promised settling the matter the following day.
