I first met Dr Anane in 2001 - Alexandria

Accra, April 12, GNA - Mrs Alexandria Anane, the American Lady whose intimate relationship with Dr Richard Anane, Road Transport Minister, resulted in the birth of their son, Nicholas Anane, has told the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) that she first met him in Washington in the early part of 2001.

The Lady, who gave her name to the Commission as Alexandria Anane when she testified before it in a video conferencing from Washington on April 5 and April 6, 2006 said her second meeting with the Minister took place at the Nigerian Capital of Abuja in April the same year during a Conference on HIV/AIDS.

Originally, Mrs Anane agreed to appear before the Commission in person, but had to change her mind at the eleventh hour, because the United States security apparatus advised her that she should not travel to Ghana, since her security could not be guaranteed.

As a result, the Commission decided to adopt the video conferencing method to take evidence from her since she was a potential witness to the Commission.

The decision to hold the conference in camera was taken after the Commission has granted an application by counsel for Dr Anane, asking the Investigative Panel to exclude the media and the public from witnessing it.

The Commission, however, assured media personnel covering the public hearing that the evidence would be made available to them as soon as the witness concluded her evidence.

The Minister is being investigated by CHRAJ over allegations of corruption, conflict of interest and abuse of office.

The Investigative Panel of CHRAJ is performing a constitutional mandate to get to the bottom of the matter, which was precipitated by media publications about the Minister, as well as a petition to Parliament challenging his re-appointment as a Minister.

The Commission is carrying out investigations into those allegations through a public hearing, with the assistance of 10 witnesses, including the petitioner to the Parliament, Mr Raymond Archer, who is also the Editor-in-Chief of "The Enquirer", newspaper.

The three-member investigative panel is chaired by Miss Anna Bossman, Acting Commissioner, with Mr Richard Quayson, Deputy Commissioner responsible for Public Education and Anti-Corruption, and Ms Abena Bonsu, Director in charge of Legal and Investigations, as members.

The Commission has Dr Philip Bondzie-Simpson as its counsel while a six-member legal team led by Mr Jacob Acquah-Sampson is defending Dr Anane.

In her four-hour video conferencing evidence which was played back for the consumption of the media covering the proceedings on Tuesday, Mrs Anane who was led by Dr Bondzie-Simpson, and testified in the presence of two consular officers at the Ghana Embassy in Washington, told the panel that her intimate relationship with Dr Anane dated back to April 2001 when they met at the United Nations Conference on HIV/AIDS at Abuja.

Witness told the Commission that between June and September that year, she maintained telephone contacts with Dr Anane on daily basis. Mrs Anane said her private relationship with the Minster resulted in the birth of Nicholas.

She told the panel that he first met Mr. Archer in Accra in August 2004, and again in Washington D. C. in June 2005.

Mrs Anane stated that she maintained correspondence with Mr. Archer by way of e-mail and fax, and gave him documents which he presented to CHRAJ.

Among the documents, she said, were birth certificates, hotel bills, and money transfer receipts.

Turning to Mr. Ignatius Poku Adusei, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and a witness who has already testified, Mrs Anane told the Commission that he met him at the La Palm Royal Beach during one of her visits to Ghana in the company of Collins Duodu-Bonsu, another witness of the Commission.

Witness said while she was back in Washington, she received as many as 20 telephone calls from the Deputy Minister from April to May 2003.

Commenting on the relationship between Mr. Duodu-Bonsu and Dr Anane, witness told the Commission that the Minister introduced him to her as his Special Assistant, and he later became the intermediary between her and Dr Anane as far as remittances of monies for the upkeep of their son was concerned.

Mrs Anane disagreed with a suggestion by counsel of the Commission that Dr Anane had no knowledge about monies remitted to her by Mr. Duodu-Bonsu, saying that the Minister was behind every remittance made to her by Mr. Duodu-Bonsu.

Answering questions under cross-examination by Mr Jacob Acquah-Sampson, counsel for Dr Anane, witness agreed with a suggestion that she wanted the Commission to believe that the best thing to maintain contacts with the Minister was to go to the Media.

To another suggestion by Counsel that it was absolutely unfair for Mrs Anane to hold Dr Anane responsible for the collapse of the World Health Monitor Programme (WHMP), whose memorandum of understanding was signed, but which never materialized, her response was that the suggestion was totally misleading to both the Commission and the Public.

She disagreed with a suggestion that the WHMP had no track record for programmes that had been previously tested and tried. Witness responded in the negative when the a question was put to her that she personally felt the need to introduce Dr Anane to people and to also access a personal relationship with him.

In answer to a question on money transfers, Mrs Anane told the panel that she did not have any documentary evidence that Dr Anane orchestrated those transfers, but was quick to add, however, that the Minister was aware of all money transferred to her.

The Commission has adjourned proceedings to Wednesday, April 19 to continue with evidence from the other eighth witness.