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
