Kufuor Fires On Muntaka

...Prez Handling Of Muntaka Probe Questionable
IMMEDIATE PAST GHANAIAN President, John Agyekum Kufuor, in his second interview on radio within the past week, has expressed worries over the handling of the Muntaka “pampers” and “chinchinga” saga, suggesting that the handling of the scandal surrounding the 38-year-old former Minister has raised issues for concern.

Besides identifying the issue of protection of a whistleblower the handling of the scandal raises, the former president said there was also the issue of the inappropriateness of using the national security apparatus to investigate allegations that other institutions of state such as the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Service could have handled.

Former president Kufuor was speaking Tuesday morning on the Adabraka-based CITI FM radio network in his first interview on an English-speaking radio network after last week Wednesday interview on OMAN FM.

Without specifically mentioning names, the former president suggested that the way and manner the Muntaka saga has been handled defeats the purpose of the Whistleblower Act passed under his administration, saying the state must not be seen to use its powers to scare innocent people who are bold enough to publicly raise issues of corruption against state officials and are willing to back them up.

He suggested that such attitude from the State could compel citizens to back off from going public with cases of real corruption.

Kufuor did not also mince words with the usage of the national security apparatus to investigate the allegations made against Muntaka.

In his view, an investigation of that sort should have been conducted by other institutions of state such as the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Police Service who should have taken the docket to the Attorney-General’s Department for advice and not the National Security outfit or the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

But in a rare act, Kufuor pleaded with Ghanaians to give incumbent President Mills some time before assessing the achievements of his administration, saying it’s too early to properly assess the Mills administration.

He said as a former president he knows the difficulties involved in managing a nation, adding that President Mills also assumed power at a time there were general socio-economic problems across the globe, with even major developed economies such as France, Italy, US, Britain and Japan all suffering the pangs of global recession.

He was however quick to debunk allegations by the incumbent administration that the present economic difficulties were as a result of reckless mismanagement of the country’s resources under his administration.

According to him those charges were nothing but political excuses which have been exposed recently by data from the Breton Wood institutions as well as the government’s own assertion that the economy which they claimed was “broke” few months ago is now thriving.

Meantime, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Albert Anthony Ampong, has gone to court, challenging his interdiction over the allegations of financial impropriety levelled against Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, the former sector minister.

Mr Ampong is seeking a declaration that an order directed at him to refund $20,000 and a further order that sanctions must be applied against him are unlawful.

In an application for judicial review filed against the Attorney-General and the Head of the Civil Service, Mr Ampong is also seeking a declaration at the High Court that the decision of the Head of Civil Service to implement directives from the President was unlawful.

The applicant is further praying the court to quash the decision to interdict him on the grounds that due process was not followed and, therefore, it was a violation of the relevant laws and disciplinary regulations of the Civil Service of Ghana.

Mr Ampong is additionally seeking an order prohibiting the respondents from imposing any disciplinary sanctions against him on the basis of the National Security report on investigations into allegations against Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak.