Mills has surrounded himself with law students – Kpegah

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Category: Politics

Created on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 00:00

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Mills has surrounded himself with law students – Kpegah

Emmanuel Archibald Laryea, a labourer who was arrested with 15 biometric voter identity cards, has been arraigned before an Accra District Magistrate Court.

A former Supreme Court Judge, Justice F.Y. Kpegah, is in no mood to defend the John Evans Atta Mills government.

He said the President treats elderly people like him with “contempt” and he has taken a decision to withdraw support for the Government.

“The President has surrounded himself with law students,” said Kpegah. “Instead of relying on the wise counsel of people like us. That is why the government is having problems.”

{sidebar id=10 align=right}The Mills government has lost almost all courtroom battles initiated against former officials of the John Kufuor administration. The most recent was the unsuccessful case against former Foreign Affairs Minister, Akwesi Osei Adjei, and former National Investment Bank boss, Daniel Charles Gyimah. An Appeals Court in Accra acquitted and discharged the men of all charges related to public funds and several tonnes of rice ordered from India during their tenure in office.

Last week, a judge in Accra released Assin North Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, on bail. The judge, in ordering the release of the detained MP, asked state prosecutors to revise the charges of treason felony, attempted genocide, and terrorism. The Attorney General’s Department filed charges against the NPP MP for making what has been described as hate speech on Oman FM recently. The judge explained that the facts of the case did not support the severity of the charges against the fiery Assin North MP.

Previously, the State lost high profile cases such as the Yaa-Naa murder trial, the Ghana at 50 trial and others initiated against former state officials of the John Kufuor administration. Justice Kpegah said this pattern of failure has a simple impetus.

“Take, for instance, the Deputy Minister for Information; he is a law student. Rawlings is older than those young men, the President has surrounded himself with them, but he does not take our advice on legal or political matters,” he said, adding, “If my support for the government is giving me personal damage then I must withdraw and look at them from afar.”

He went on, “I have written several memos to President Mills like the Yaa-Naa issue and the need for him, as a Constitutional matter, to probe the NPP administration because of probity and accountability, which is enshrined in the Constitution (but) he has refused. “Again, on the Yaa-Naa Issue, I told him (President Mills) to set up a Commission of enquiry with a retired Chief Justice as Chairman and they will send their recommendations to government rather than politicise the matter, but he refused. In the end we wasted a lot of state money on prosecuting the matter in court. That is why I have decided to take a back seat.”

Justice Kpegah became an ardent critic of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) after the government of John Kufuor overlooked him, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court at the time, to nominate Justice Georgina Wood as Chief Justice.

In noticeable protest, Justice Kpegah subsequently resigned his position from the Supreme Court and has since been a stern critic of the party whose government failed to make him the third most powerful public official in the land. Also, he has over the last three years made public statements on matters of law and national politics in support of the Mills government.

Last year, Justice Kpegah kicked a major storm within the judiciary when he described as “awful” the trial judge who acquitted and discharged the 15 persons charged for the murder of Ya-Naa Yakubu Andani in 2002.

He said Justice E.K Ayebi’s ruling showed he was totally confused by the case.

Justice Kpegah told Metro TV’s Good Evening Ghana show that if the ruling by the judge was submitted to his desk for promotion as is done by judges, he would have awarded Justice Ayebi less than one percent due to his poor ruling on the case.

The Fast Track High Court on Tuesday March 29, 2011 acquitted and discharged all the 15 accused persons on trial for the murder of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II. They were acquitted and discharged on three counts of rioting, conspiracy to murder and murder.

In its ruling, the court presided over by Mr Justice E.K. Ayebi said facts presented by the prosecution had no locus and failed to establish any complicity of the accused persons in the murder of the Ya Na.

“From now on, I will just take a back seat and watch them because that is what my family and chiefs from the Volta Region have advised me to do,” Justice Kpegah concluded in an interview with The Globe.

Source: The Globe newspaper

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Nduom Runs A Slave Company – Wayo

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Category: Politics

Created on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 00:00

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Nduom Runs A Slave Company – Wayo

{sidebar id=12 align=right}Maverick politician, Charles Kofi Wayo has taken a swipe at the owner and flag bearer of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, describing him as a cheat, suggesting Dr. Nduom to be not less than a slave owner.

According to Mr. Wayo, the PPP owner in this present day economic hardships pays a lot of his workers a paltry ¢70 as their monthly salary for working in his various luxurious hotels and banks across the country.

This is in spite of the fact that Dr. Nduom charges nearly US$300 to US$400 per a night at his various hotels. Most of his workers who break their back to bring in the money are not enjoying, rather the generated revenue goes into funding his political activities to enable him become president of Ghana.

“Dr. Nduom had propelled himself as a successful businessman in spite of the fact that some of the people working for him do not have Social Security numbers”, Mr. Wayo noted.

He said this about the soft-spoken politician and now flag bearer of the PPP on Vibe FM, an Accra-based radio station where he appeared as a panelist.

He said Dr. Nduom cannot emerge from nowhere and claim to be a saint in politics when “we are aware of his performance at the Ministry of Energy and Ministry for the Public Sector Reforms in the immediate past New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration led by ex-President John Agyekum Kufour in 2006”.

This statement did not go down well with Mr. Richmond Keelson, one of the agents and spokesperson of Dr. Nduom and onetime editor of The Today newspaper also owned by Dr. Nduom. Mr. Keelson was also a panelist on the show.

He quickly rebutted Mr. Wayo’s claims, saying the records of Dr. Nduom as the Minister of Energy and later Minister for Public Sector Reforms are there for all to see, and it is not for Nduom to go about boasting about how well he served the nation in the Kufuor administration.

He threatened Mr. Wayo to desist from attacking Dr. Nduom, else they (his agents) would also go round uncovering his true nature, but Mr. Wayo stood his ground and insisted that even though the PPP owner prides himself as a successful businessman, he cared less about the welfare of his workers, especially when transport fares and food prices have shot up.

He related that such a person cannot be a leader of this country because, he has no magnanimity for the ordinary man but only interested in chasing his ambition, his private pocket and how he would grow his businesses through dubious means at the detriment of the electorates.

Dr. Nduom is on record to have resigned his position as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of First National Bank to pursue his dreams of becoming President of the Republic of the Ghana.

The hotelier’s preoccupied ambition now is to become president, having served as Assemblyman for one of the electoral areas in Elmina in the Central Region, before moving on to become a Member of Parliament (MP) for (KEEA) on the ticket of the Convention peoples Party (CPP).

Whilst an MP, he allied himself with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and served in Mr. Kufuor’s government as a minister under the famous “All Inclusive” arrangement.

Dr. Nduom is also the bankroller the Unemployed Graduates Association. It was shockingly discovered that most of the members of the group are in his employment; they work for some of his companies. The main aim of the group according to insiders is to steer agitation on the youth front.

Source: By Cecil Mensah

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NPP will never disown ‘prodigal’ Ken Agyapong – Sir John

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Category: Politics

Created on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 00:00

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NPP will never disown ‘prodigal’ Ken Agyapong – Sir John

The General Secretary of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie also known as Sir John says the party is solidly behind beleaguered Assin North Member of Parliament, who is facing trial for treason felony, attempted genocide and terrorism act.

The NPP scribe noted that Ken Agyapong’s ordeal has brought a new enthusiasm and courage to the party seeking to unseat the non-performing Mills-led administration in December.

{sidebar id=12 align=right}Sir John was reacting to comments by some political pundits and civil society that the NPP must sanction its Assin North MP for declaring ‘war’ in the country.

They argued that the NPP could lose vital votes in the December polls if it continues to glorify and portray Mr. Agyapong as a hero.

The Assin North MP was given a gallant welcome at the NPP Headquarters Thursday after spending three days in the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) custody for making inflammatory comments and declaring war on an Accra-based radio station, Oman FM.

He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with one surety and cautioned to be of good conduct.

Speaking on Ekosii Sen programme Monday, Sir John said even though the NPP has disassociate itself from the intemperate language by the Assin North MP, the party would never renounce the membership of a firebrand like Ken Agyapong.

He stated that the legislator has faithfully defended the party through thick and thin hence it would be a blunder on the part of the party leadership to disown him in difficult times.

Sir John described as hypocritical the holier than thou attitude of some members of the ruling party who are calling for the head of the Assin North MP.

The NPP scribe said Ken Agyapong, like the prodigal son, has been cautioned by the party to control his temper when provoked and use legitimate means to get his grievances addressed.

“The NPP needs a courageous person like Ken to motivate party members to defend themselves when their rights are abused,” he added.

Sir John said Ken Agyapong’s opponents would be perpetually disappointed since the NPP has no intention to throw him out of the party.

In a quick rebuttal, a member of the NDC, Kakra Essamuah who was a panelist on the programme said the NPP would be forever tainted if it maintains Ken Agyapong in the party.

He warned that “if you [NPP] keep such a character in your fold, the people of Ghana would pass their judgment in 2012”.

Kakra Essumuah said the “the unprecedented, violent and animalistic comment by Ken Agyapong disqualifies him as an honourable member of Ghana’s Parliament”.

Source: Myjoyonline

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Dr Nduom: What is Happening in Ghana… Who is in Charge?

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Category: Elections & Governance

Created on Wednesday, 18 April 2012 00:00

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Dr Nduom: What is Happening in Ghana… Who is in Charge?

I am not in Ghana. I am in Washington, DC on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meeting – not in any official capacity - but privately engaging in business discussions, looking for opportunity and seeking to understand which global issues can have a positive or negative impact on Ghana in the next 12 months. I have been here for a few days. Prior to today, Monday April 16, 2012, I have been in some very good meetings to discuss business and political developments in Ghana with many, many people - Ghanaians and non-Ghanaians.

I am aware that there is an official Government of Ghana delegation in Washington, DC. Our paths have not crossed. I do not know what they are going through. But the tone, character and content of discussions I have been having with people here has changed dramatically today. And it is all because of news coming out of Accra. It is all about “chaos at the Police CID Headquarters and BNI offices in Accra”.

Ghana is known all over the world as an island of peace, stability, free speech and democracy in an often troubled African continent. Recently, the unstable nature of the African environment has re-appeared through the spread of news about military coups in Mali and Guinea Bissau. Senegal went to the brink and pulled back much to the relief of many Africans. Since my arrival here a few days ago, I have been receiving congratulations from many in the United States of America due to the fact that Ghana seemed well on its way in its preparations towards the December 2012 elections.

The hope of many has been that with a successful election this year, Ghana's international credentials could become solid as a good global citizen and become a great environment in which both domestic and international investors would prosper. All of this has hinged on our level of tolerance – religious, ethnic and political; the rule of law; and freedom of speech, association and movement. My point is that something changed today.

{sidebar id=10 align=right}Images and news coming out of Accra today of citizens running away from the police, tear gas, members of an opposition party arrested and even allegations about deaths is colouring in a very negative way discussions about doing business in Ghana. My friends are worried about where all this is leading and the fact that I am a candidate for the 2012 presidential election. The question many are asking is, “Who is in charge in Ghana?” When our president tells a nation in conflict over voters' registration that he is not a law enforcement officer or a prosecutor, people both Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian who want to risk their capital in the country tend to hesitate. Investment loves peace, freedom and stability.

What has happened in Ghana this Monday can break the positive perception people have about Ghana. This damage can be repaired and this must be done through strong action on the part of President Mills. He must take charge and prove that he IS the President of our Republic who is also the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces and on whose shoulders the fortunes of the nation rest. The buck as is said stops with him. And he must wield these powers gently but firmly and in a manner that respects our freedoms and diversity as a people.

I am appalled by the overly aggressive way that the NDC and the NPP have gone about this biometric voters registration exercise. The bad blood exhibited and anger expressed by leading members of these two political parties if not checked will lead this nation on a very negative path to destruction. But it is the NDC led by President Mills that governs this country. The responsibility to lead and act in a positive manner rests with the NDC. We must find a way that does not allow so-called polling agents of the political parties at the point of registration and voting.

I am worried. This is the time for all good men and women to rise and collectively work to prevent chaos, hatred and selfishness from destroying the sacrifices we have all made over the years. Let us act tomorrow positively in the national interest to avoid chaos and instability.

God bless our homeland Ghana and save us from those who aim to oppress our people.

Awake Ghana! April 16, 2012 Source:PAPA KWESI NDUOM

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