At times it is very nauseating when some persons or agencies want to take others for granted. I don’t know if the National Democratic Congress (NDC) respects the sensibilities of Ghanaians at all? In other words I don’t know if they think that every Ghanaian or Ghanaians are not discerning enough!
Why did I say this, a Southwark court in London on the 25th September, 2009 fined the Mabey and Johnson construction company for unlawfully making some payments to certain persons who were in government in the past and are still occupying some positions in the current NDC administration to win some contracts contrary to both United Kingdom laws and the laws of the United Nations. What is of utmost interests here is that, it was a new management of the Mabey and Johnson Company that confessed to paying for contracts in Ghana and gave the names of persons who received payments to fast track their operations in Ghana . It must be added here that, they produced evidence in court about who received what which formed the basis for their fine.
Then all the brouhaha started, with sympathisers of the NDC running amok everywhere to defend the indefensible. The funniest issue which to me could only come from ‘comedians’ was that, those persons whose names came up in the trial were not given a fair hearing. My response to it is that are those persons also known as Mabey and Johnson?
What must be knocked down well is that, it was Mabey and Johnson that was on trial and not those Ghanaians whose names came up. Mabey and Johnson did not complain that, it did not receive a fair hearing so why somebody or persons who were not a subject of trial should be complaining of not receiving “fair hearing” fair hearing from who and where?
You see, the case is very simple; is it lawful or unlawful for officials in government or outside government in Ghana to take bribes? If the answer is no or yes then those whose names have come up must have further investigations conducted on them for the laws of the land to take its course period! Those saying Ghana is a sovereign nation must understand that, because we are a sovereign nation we must let those whose names came up face our sovereign courts to defend themselves. Full stop!
It should be the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) or the Criminal Investigations Department(CID) that should commence the investigations and not the Attorney Generals office. To me the directive by president Mills to the Attorney General to conduct the investigations is a non-starter. Infact it is the beginning of covering up the truth. President Mills should therefore not be commended at all for this whitewash. I have glaring evidence that all those whose names came up had cheques paid into their bank accounts at Nat west and Barclay Banks of the United Kingdom within the period under reference.
I challenge all those mentioned if they are truthful and honourable to publish their bank statements from Nat west and Barclays covering the period it is alleged monies were paid into their accounts. In any case at the right time they will be shocked to the bone to see those bank statements published in the media. They must respectfully shut up if they can’t publish their bank statements at least for now.
Secondly, those persons whose names came up must sue the United Kingdom government or the Southwark crown court if they think they have been defamed. In any case why is it that, none of them is even ready to take the United Kingdom government to court but rather running to radio, television, and newspapers? The NDC on its part must also move beyond its babyish excuse that, it has no records to prove receipt of monies from Mabey and Johnson. I am not going to comment on this “Anansesem” beyond hahahaha!
What readers must also be made aware of is that, because contract payments were over invoiced, Ghana is to receive over £687,000.00 in reparation. We are waiting to see if the President Mills government will take this money at all especially in the face of all these denials and rebuttals from its party. Won’t it be so interesting if the very NDC government that is condemning the ruling of the Southwark Crown Court goes ahead to receive this huge reparation? My estimation is that, this case must be investigated thoroughly for all Ghanaians to know the truth. If a shoddy work is done, or if the case is covered up it definitely will resurface when ever Ghana gets a new government rather than the NDC. All those whose names came up must resign to pave way for unimpeded investigations. Let us not create a two tier way of dealing with suspects in Ghana! If it is the New Patriotic Party, they are arrested by the BNI, but if it is the NDC the Attorney General is asked to conduct further investigations. Hmmmmm…!
It is in the interest of President Mills to crack the whip, but I don’t think he can crack the whip at all! His comments during a meeting with a section of Ghanaians during his recent visit to the United States of America attest to this. For those who did not hear him he said all his ministers were clean ministers! With this wont it be safe to conclude that, those officials whose names came up will go free? We are waiting nonetheless.
Akilu Sayibu, UK.
Akilu.sayibu@live.uwe.ac.uk
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