Prosecution of former Ministers - Mills sees no witch-hunting

Former vice-President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills says he does not see anything strange about the ongoing prosecution of Ministers of the former regime over alleged economic crimes because the NDC also prosecuted their own Minister, Kwame Peasah and jailed him.

He said if the NDC was indeed trying to cover up some of its Ministers it would not have taken that bold decision to prosecute their own Minister and jail him after going through the due process of law.

Professor Mills who was speaking in a radio interview in Takoradi however stated that all the NDC former ministers who are currently being tried by the NPP government cannot be said to have committed the crime upon which they are being tried until they have been found guilty by the courts trying them.

He expressed regret that though the law states that an accused person is deemed to be innocent until he has been found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction, some newspapers and a section of the public have already tried these former ministers and have found them guilty, which to him is unfair.

Commenting on the NDC, Mills who is about to go on Sabbatical said though some underground work is going on to ensure the demise of the party, the NDC still remains a strong force in Ghanaian politics.

“Since the foundation of the party was laid in the name of God, no one can destroy it. We are going to change a lot of things in the party and we will surely come back in a grand style to win the 2004 elections.

Addressing a well-attended public forum in Sekondi later, Prof. Mills who was in the twin-city to thank the people who voted for the party and also ensured incident-free elections said he and his people did not involve themselves in the governance of the country just to steal state funds as a section of the media are alleging. “We went into the government to serve the people of this country, which we did to our satisfaction.”