Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper and a member of the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG), Kwesi Pratt Jnr., wants all persons implicated in the payment of controversial judgment debts to be sanctioned by the appropriate authorities.
Speaking on Saturday on Radio Gold’s “Alhaji & Alhaji,” Mr. Pratt held the view that facilitators of the judgment debts which were paid to construction firm, Waterville Holdings Ltd, Spanish energy company, ISOFOTON SA and businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome, must be made to face the consequences of their actions and inactions.
He sarcastically sought to find out if the parties involved in the judgment debt scandal plundered the monies from the Bank of Ghana and offices that made the payments surreptitiously, and, therefore, asserted that the monies could not have been doled out without the possible help of some government officials, who to him, must equally be punished if found guilty.
“If today, we are finding out that these payments were irregular, unconstitutional, should not have been paid and so on; do we leave it at the level of the claimants? I would want to submit that there’s a lot more work that needs to be done. And in that work, we need to find out whether indeed those who recommended payment and effected payment, acted properly; and if they did not act properly, then they must suffer the consequences…,” he said.
He also launched a blistering attack on those who have commended Mr. Martin Amidu, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, for his perseverance in reclaiming all monies paid illegally to the companies and businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome.
According to him, the commentators who have since showered praises on Mr. Amidu seem to live a double standard because they were the same persons who vilified him when he incriminated some officials of one of the Jubilee Partners, EO Group, a couple of years ago.
It could be recalled that on Monday, 20th June, 2011, Mr. Martin Amidu slapped charges on the EO Group.
In an interview with Citi FM, Mr. Amidu leveled accusations of forgery, conspiracy to commit fraud and deceiving a public officer against the company, following a report in the Monday edition of the Enquirer newspaper, which claimed that the promoters of the EO Group will be charged on nine counts.
During the said interview, Mr. Amidu said: “Offences have been committed by the EO group, and the police have instructions to charge those found culpable…Some members or a member would be formally charged because the other member is at large, and when he is charged eventually, the case would go to court.”
In respect of this, Kwesi Pratt Jnr found it intriguing that members of the opposition party and critics who vilified the former Attorney General for pursuing such a case would today hail him for his feat in retrieving monies that belong to the State.
“At that time, Mr. Martin Amidu who as far as I am concerned was insisting on legality, was insisting on principle, did not get the support of those who today are hailing him as a national hero. They tore him apart and so on…. This is the interesting aspect of the person Martin Amidu. One time, he is a hero; another time, he is a villain,” he wondered.
He, however, called on Ghanaians to pat themselves on the shoulder for supporting Mr. Martin Amidu to fight a good course to the end.
