Erroneously Implicating Dr Kwabena Duffour in “Woyomegate Scandal”

In the wake of the Supreme Court finding the Ghanaian

swindler of the 21st Century, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, guilty

of duping Ghana of Ghc51.2 Million, many an uninformed (not

used maliciously or derogatorily) Ghanaian is angrily

yelling for the arrest of Dr Kwabena Duffour. They are

asserting that Dr Duffour, then the Finance and Economic

Minister whose outfit effected the payment, is as equally

guilty as Woyome, the initiator of the crime. He is surely

an accomplice, they allege.

I have vowed to defend people that I come across as being

wrongly treated for a reason or the other, whether my

services are solicited or not. Certainly, Dr Duffour may not

be happy seeing me jump to his defence. He has done nothing

wrong so my defence is uncalled for, I am aware of that. For

it is said, “do not fix it when it is not broken”.

However, one has to set the record straight to prevent

further unnecessary attacks on innocent persons while

criminals vaingloriously saunter down the streets of Ghana.

To start with, Dr Duffour is such an honest, dynamic,

dedicated and a courageous individual who has vowed to be of

service to his nation and people. He is such a selfless

individual that you cannot find many of his types in Ghana.

When he was in government as the Finance Minister, he never

drew salary. He did a charitable work for Ghana. Unlike his

other colleague-ministers, he never accepted even a litre of

petrol into his car. He did not use government cars; did not

live in government bungalow; did not use any of the

government’s free garden boys or house maids, and did not

accept any sitting allowance or per diem.

Further to that, his little involvement in the “Woyomegate

scandal” was revealed during the Economic and Organized

Crimes Office’s (EOCO) investigations into the

“Woyomegate scandal” as ordered by the late President

Atta Mills. From their investigations, Dr Duffour was

established to have become suspicious, written to Betty

Mould-Iddrisu (Attorney General) for better particulars and

further clarifications pertaining to paying the money to

Alfred Agbesi Woyome. President Mills was cc’d each

correspondence sent from Dr Duffour to Betty Mould-Iddrisu.

While the correspondences were on-going, pending the receipt

of convincingly acceptable explanations from Betty

Mould-Iddrisu before any payment to Woyome was made, the

Legal Director at the Ministry of Finance, Paul Asimenu, did

the unthinkable. Find out what he did. After that, you will

agree with me that Dr Duffour was neither the one who

signed, nor authorised, for the money to be paid to Woyome.

How then do you honestly call for his arrest?

I do not blame those asking for his arraignment because they

did not know he was not a party to those that colluded to

dupe Ghana, using Woyome as a front man. He can be

charged as you suggest and hopefully, he will defend himself

to the amazement of all.

Dr Duffour is whiter than white and cleaner than clean when

it comes to discussing issues bordering on honesty,

sincerity, dedication to duty and demonstrable integrity in

general.

Had he even signed for the money to be paid to Woyome,

acting upon the written instructions of the Attorney

General, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, he would not be held culpable

for his actions. Would you be held accountable for mistakes

made when the court orders you to carry out a specific duty

on declaration of verdict? The role of Betty Mould-Iddrisu

in this saga was same as a Court judge issuing instructions

to you following the pronouncement of judgment in a case.

His only sin may be not signing the fictitious documents

presented by Woyome to dupe Ghana, if I should put it that

way. He is more than ready to go to court to tell Ghanaians

what he knew, and did not know, about the “Woyomegate

scandal”. Do you kill the messenger?

Rockson Adofo