Woyome’s Double Agony

By Desmond Darko

Finally, Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome has been arranged before court. He is expected to defend himself against three counts of criminal charges. Government thinks Mr Woyome has a criminal case to answer, hence his arrest in traffic on Friday 3rd February 2012 whiles he was on his way to work. Then

Others however believe Mr Woyome has no case to answer since he went through the legal process to get what he believed he was entitled to. Whichever way, we can only wait to see how it all span out. In the meantime, I think that what is most needed as the process rolls out, are cool heads.

I was one of those who felt the need to raise concerns about the manner in which the Woyome matter was being discussed in the media. It is clear from day one that both the NDC government and NPP are trying to make as much windfall from the Woyome case as possible.

President John Evans Atta Mills and his advisers obviously want to use Woyome as a test case in combating corruption in government, and they seem to be in a hurry to prove a point in that regard. The conduct of the EOCO investigation and the manner of Mr Woyome’s subsequent arrest speak volumes of a certain burning desire to score a political point.

Mr Woyome was ambushed in traffic by gun-wielding security personnel whilst on his way to the office and whisked away to the police headquarters. This was after he fully cooperated with EOCO in its investigation into the facts of the payment of judgement debts to him by the state.

As for the NPP, it does appear they have bitten far more than they could chew. The matter, like a consuming fire, is raging fast towards their camp and we can already see persons like Mr Yaw Osafo-Mafo and O. B. Amoah dashing for cover. The first signal by the NPP to show their perplexity about this ‘consuming fire’ was their decision that no member should honour the EOCO’s invitation to aid it in its investigation. Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey, chairman of the NPP, issued the directive and former President Kufuor endorsed it.

The NPP wanted to gain political advantage with the politicisation of the Woyome matter by using it to raise a spectre of gargantuan corruption within the Mills government. Then when they come face to face with the repercussions of the Kufuor cabinet unlawfully terminating a lawfully awarded contract, which is the genesis of this whole Woyome story, they have since been trying very hard to put impediments in the way of the law. Strikingly enough, Mr Kufuor endorses the lawless posturing of his party, and indications are that he did that with the hope of covering his own corrupt acts which could be uncovered if his people cooperated with EOCO.

Mr Woyome, in this era of rule of law and democracy, can only be declared guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction. It is thus totally wrong the manner everybody in the NPP and even some in the NDC government together with some self-righteous media persons are treating the matter.

I have followed closely the discussion of the Woyome matter in the media and have been appalled by the utterances of persons like Kweku Baako Jr and Kwesi Pratt Jr., both of them big voices on the electronic media. To say the least, comments made by these persons are nothing but the character assassination of Mr Woyome. Whilst Kweku Baako as usual is engaged in propaganda on behalf of Mr Kufuor and the rest of his friends in the NPP, Kwesi Pratt is struggling to position himself as chief PR man for President Mills.

Either way, I don’t have a problem as long as they do what they have to do legitimately to make their money and earn a living. What I find frightening is the blatant disregard they continue to demonstrate for the human rights of another citizen- Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome.

Pratt for example wants Mr Woyome to be ex-communicated by the NDC. Even before the EOCO presented its findings to the President, apart from the fact that Mr Pratt had made some facts in the report public days before the EOCO officially did its presentation, he had declared Mr Woyome guilty and resorted to verbal lashing of NDC persons who allowed Mr Woyome to fraternise with them. I find this very interesting.

Mr Woyome obtained about GH¢52million in judgement debt from the state through legal process. As we speak, it has not yet been established by a court of competent jurisdiction that he did so fraudulently. Yes, the process is on-going and it is only the court, the same court that ruled in his favour for him to be paid the money, can reverse the decision if it finds admissible evidence that Mr Woyome defrauded the state. It does not lie in the mouth of Kwesi Pratt and others to say, to the extent that NDC persons must dissociate themselves from Mr Woyome.

Yes, President Mills is a man of integrity, no doubt about that. Yes, he is incorruptible; no matter how hard the NPP tries to push their make believe. It is good that those who opposed then Candidate Mills most, when he was first endorsed by then President Rawlings in 1999 as NDC’s man for the future, have now seen the light and are falling over themselves to protect him.

The reality is that Mr Alfred Woyome suffers a double agony with some in the NDC government pricking him on one side and the NPP pricking him on the other side.