Ex-convict Mallam Issah to contest NDC primaries

Disgraced former Youth and Sports Minister under the Kufuor administration Mallam Ali Yusif Issah has picked up form to contest the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries.

Mallam Issah, who was slapped with a four-year jail term for misplacing $46,000 as bonuses for the Black Stars on an assignment in Sudan, is contesting the Adenta seat in the Greater Accra region.

“I have picked a form to contest the NDC parliamentary primaries and I have been in Adenta for many years,” Mallam Issah told Accra-based Joy FM.

“We are not seeing any development. Before Nii Ashie Moore was given the opportunity I was contacted but I told them I wasn’t ready. I joined the NDC in 2003.”

A true member of the People’s National Convention (PNC), he was co-opted into the NPP administration but became popular in 2001 for failing to account for the winning bonus. He was, however, granted a presidential pardon in July 2003 due to poor health.

Mallam Issah has always maintained his innocence, insisting he was framed by persons within the Kufuor administration with the connivance of the then President.