Trial of Mallam Issah

CONTRARY TO the widely held notion that the ex-minister for Youth and Sports, Mallam Yusif Issa, was prosecuted and subsequently jailed based on a publication by The Dispatch newspaper, the presidential spokesman, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, has said the ex-minister was tried based on a report he (Mallam Issa) made to the police on his arrival from the Sudan.

"When Mallam returned from the Sudan, he made a report to the police over the missing $46,000. So it was based on this report that he was tried. It is therefore not true that the Dispatch publication served as the basis for the prosecution of the ex-minister," he disclosed at a forum held at the University of Ghana, Legon on Tuesday.

Mr. Agyepong's intervention was in apparent response to the latest criticism by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of President. Kufuor's statement that he was not prepared to prosecute government officials on corruption allegations based on newspaper publications.

The flagbearer of the NDC, Prof. John E.A. Mills, addressing students of the Common wealth Hall of the University of Ghana, a fortnight ago took a swipe at the president's stand because according to him, Mallam Issah was tried and jailed based on a newspaper publication.

Mr. Ahmed Ramadan of the People's National Convention PNC, expressed surprise at Mr. Agyepong's explanation, which was in reaction to a question posed by a student on why the government was now saying that it could not prosecute its officials on the basis of newspaper allegations after it had prosecuted Mallam Issah based on a Dispatch story.

"To tell us today that Mallam Issah reported the matter to the police on his arrival is news to me. This is because all along we were told that the president felt bad about the matter because, Mallam Issah, kept quiet over the matter until The Dispatch published the story," Ramadan stated.

"So if it was that Mallam Issah did report the matter to the police on his arrival from Sudan, why were we told that he kept quiet over the matter or was it that we were being deceived?" he asked.

Though Mr. Agyepong did not react to the comments of the PNC official, the audience at the forum who were mainly students subjected the matter to a hot debate.

Earlier in his speech at the forum, Mr. Agyepong stressed that the government's policy of Zero Tolerance for corruption was a reality.

"His Excellency the president has come out with this vision and cannot single handedly work towards the realization of this vision. It is therefore the duty of every Ghanaian to help make the president's vision a reality," he pointed out.

According to him the era of impunity and instant justice was over and that the country was now witnessing an era of due process and rule of law.

The commitment of the government, he said, towards the rule of law had clearly been demonstrated by the obvious effort being made to strengthen national anti-corruption institutions such as the SFO, CHRAJ and the police service.

Mr. Agyepong urged Ghanaians to support the government in its war against corruption by reporting corrupt officials to the appropriate state institutions rather than resort to "blanket allegations."