I'm Not JJ's Barber - ET Mensah

...ET defends himself and plans to sue Evening News
NEARLY EIGHT years after an Accra private newspaper claimed that Hon. Enock Teye Mensah, the then Sports Minister, was the personal barber of Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, the former president, the man who is also the sitting Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo/Prampram has now made a spirited denial of it.

Mr. E.T. Mensah was speaking to Charlie Sam of Uneek FM yesterday during the Uneek Breakfast Show. According to him, he has never been a barber in his life on this earth and neither has he ever even cut the hair of his own son. Asked why it had taken him so long to react to the claims by the newspaper, E.T. Mensah explained that he thought it was part of the paper’s (Ghanaian Chronicle) figment of imagination, hence his decision not to react to it.

The Uneek FM interview was occasioned by a publication in the Evening News of Monday, October 28, 2002. He also spoke to Peace FM on the same issue yesterday.

According to the publication, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) invited the former Youth and Sports Minister to come and assist in investigations about 1,274 missing footballs from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and also the alleged fraudulent transfer of an amount of $1.4 million into an account in Rotterdam, Netherlands meant as payment for feasibility studies conducted by Philips, the giant Dutch Multi-National Corporation on the proposed Olympic Stadium project at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.

According to the Ningo/Prampram MP, there were no underhanded dealings in the distribution of the footballs. He has documents to prove that the footballs were given to ‘Keep Fit’ clubs in the country, including the Prempeh Keep Fit club in Kumasi, Keep Fit clubs and schools in the Upper East, Upper West, Northern Region and Greater Accra regions.

Hon. E.T. Mensah averred that most of the Saturday and Sunday soccer stars in Accra also received some of the balls, including Members of Parliament from both the incumbent and opposition MPs at the time (who are now in government). When asked why he would give out such balls to MPs, he answered, “they are part of protocol allocations for Sports promotion”. It was also meant for colts, soccer, and football associations throughout the country. The former Sports Minister stated that, “This practice has been happening for ages. People put pressure on the sitting minister of Youth and Sports for footballs for sports promotion, so provision is made for that.”

On the proposed Olympic Stadium at Prampram, Hon. E.T. Mensah indicated that it was approved by Cabinet, and Philips B.V. of Holland Netherlands were contracted to do feasibility studies for which they were paid $1.445 million out of $1.8 million in total fees for the feasibility studies on the Olympic Stadium.

When asked why the feasibility work was not contracted to Mr. Nartey of F. Malawi Engineering Company, since they were the local agents for Philips, Mr. Mensah conceded that Mr. Nartey had been involved in some consultancy work for Philips in other countries in Africa, but the feasibility work on the proposed Olympic Stadium at Prampram was given to Philips, and Nartey had no hand in it. He also denied that Nartey worked for him as a personal advisor.

Throwing more light on Mr. Mensah’s invitation, he stated that when the SFO invited him last week Thursday he was surprised because the matter regarding the 1,274 footballs and the transfer of money to Philips had been dealt with by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), following a publication in the Daily Guide.

The Ningo/Prampram MP revealed that Mr.Mensah appeared before the BNI about a year ago, a few weeks after the Daily Guide story, and testified to the effect that he could not account for the 1,274 footballs he collected from the Chief Director at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. Hon. E.T. Mensah also denied that he ever caused to be transferred into an account in New York an amount of $1.5 million, as published by the Evening News in its issue No.467. of October 25, 2001.

According to the former Minister, the Evening News publication created the impression that Ministers of State have a vault in their offices where money is kept, some of which he supposedly transferred fraudulently to the New York-based account. He stated that following the Evening News story he came out with a rebuttal. Incidentally, the rejoinder was published in a small corner inside the paper, thus denying the public an opportunity to know the truth, since the allegation against him was put on the front page of the paper.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mensah threatened to sue the Evening News. Describing their previous publication about his conduct and his current invitation to the SFO which the paper published, as a repetition of the same old story, he asked “If these are is not a vicious, provocative, vexatious, blatant lies, and irresponsible journalism, then what are they?”