The General Secretary of National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has accused President Akufo-Addo of shielding officials found to have contravened state laws in pushing the Agyapa deal through.
The NDC has questioned President Akufo-Addo’s resolve to act on Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu’s corruption risk assessment of the Agyapa deal.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, Mr Asiedu Nketia says that lack of action from President Akufo-Addo shows that he is a “chief enabler and promoter of corruption in his government”.
“We must state without any equivocation, that the attitude of President Akufo Addo who has earned the unenviable reputation of being the “Chief Corruption Clearing Agent”, does not come as a surprise to us in the NDC. This is exactly what nepotism does to a country. It completely blinds leaders and weakens their ability to crack the whip on their errant and corrupt appointees.”
“We are therefore not surprised that President Akufo Addo has not shown any interest whatsoever, in punishing his corrupt officials who have been found culpable in this Agyapa imbroglio and retrieving billions of taxpayers monies that have been paid under the shady deal. President Akufo Addo has time and again, proven to be the chief enabler and promoter of corruption in his government. He has continuously defended and shielded his corrupt officials from punishment since he took office as was witnessed in the BOSTGATE corruption scandal, PDS scandal, missing excavators’ scandal, Australian VISA fraud scandal, just to mention a few.”
The NDC has issued a 7-day ultimatum to retrieve monies paid to some persons involved in the Agyapa deal.
A Corruption Risk Assessment conducted by Martin Amidu stated that there was reasonable suspicion of bid-rigging and a high risk of corruption activity in the selection process of the deal.
The findings also uncovered cases of alleged manipulation of the procurement process by the Ministry of Finance by adding an unapproved rider for collaboration with a Ghanaian firm.
Even though critics have called for the withdrawal of the deal, Mr Akufo-Addo has instructed the Finance Minister to return the Agyapa Royalties Agreement to Parliament for a review after the Office of the Special Prosecutor forwarded its report to him.
