Kufuor faction to seek Akufo Addo’s prosecution - Ephson

Pollster Ben Ephson has predicted that a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) aligned to the Kufour faction will in the coming days proceed to court seeking to have the party’s Presidential Candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, prosecuted for causing financial loss to the state to the tune of $ 4.9 million.

According to him, the move is a ploy by the Kufuor faction which feels it is under siege in the NPP to unnecessarily harass Nana Akufo-Addo and ridicule him.

Government has rejected recommendations by the Judgment Debt Commission that it sanction some public officials for a $4.9 million financial loss to the state in 2002, but not Nana Akufo-Addo.

According to Government, the Commission erred when it failed to recommend sanctions against the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, who was Attorney General at the time.

Government on Wednesday issued a White Paper on the Judgment Debt Commission’s report in which it accuses Nana Akufo-Addo of causing financial loss to the state by authorizing the payment.

According to the Judgement Debt Commission’s report, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s failure to pay US firm Delta Foods for imported maize in 1997 resulted in a 2 million judgment debt.

Despite agreeing it owed the company, the Attorney General’s office went to the Supreme Court to challenge the judgment, leading to a delay in payment.

A $4.9 million additional interest thus accrued on the amount.

The Commissioner’s report says the US$4.9 million payment authorized by Nana Akufo-Addo as Attorney General and paid to the solicitor for Delta Foods Ltd., Peter Ala Adjetey, constituted a huge financial loss to the State.

According to the Commission’s own findings, it was the wrongful decision of the office of the Attorney General to go to the Supreme Court after it had agreed to a consent judgment that led to the financial loss of $4.9 million.

Government in the White Paper insists the Commission should have recommended that every public officer found to have contributed to the ruckus that led to the payment of the judgment debt should be sanctioned.

Speaking to Fiifi Banson on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.3 FM, Mr Ephson, who is also the Editor of the Daily Dispatch Newspaper, stated that the Kufuor faction which feels its interest in the party is being suppressed, will seize every opportunity to go at Nana Akufo-Addo and also seek from the court if Nana Addo is indeed liable or not.

But he failed to name whoever intends to challenge the matter in court, adding that Ghanaians will know who is behind the court case as the matter plays out in the next few days.

“If you look at Paul Afoko’s press conference yesterday, the only party executive who attended was Sammy Crabbe. Before the April election in Tamale, everybody knew the perception that of the eleven (11) national officers, the three thought be in the Kufour faction are Paul Afoko, Kwabena Agyepong and Sammy Crabbe, and these are the three currently in trouble with the others, so they feel they are under siege. And so like Afoko, even when he knows he will lose he’ll go to various levels to make himself heard.”