We Shall Jail Kufuor’s Men: Minister

The Justice Minister and Attorney General, Mrs. Betty Mould Iddrisu, has assured supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that the government would deal with former government functionaries who would be caught causing financial loss to the state.

Reacting to claims by some party members that the NDC government was losing cases in courts, she said there was no need to rush to prosecute suspects and gave the assurance that her outfit was meticulously studying some of the charges before going to court.

Explaining the seemingly slow adjudication of cases, she indicated that the Attorney-General’s Department depends on the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Criminal Investigations Department (CIA), to prefer charges against suspects after in depth investigations. She gave the assurance that now that the said investigative agencies were up and doing, the cases would be expedited.

The embattled Minister of Justice, who has come under pressure for not expediting cases against ministers of the Kufuor administration, emphasized that they (New Patriotic Party – NPP ministers) would be jailed.

Mrs. Iddrisu, who was addressing Party members drawn from the 10 constituencies in the Kumasi metropolis at the Salisburge Hotel in Kumasi last Friday, under an outreach programme, said the law office had solid grounds to prosecute all those who had fallen foul of the law and indicated that dockets had already been prepared to prosecute them.

According to her, the NPP members were aware that they are going to be jailed and those lawyers and the media were only downplaying the gravity of the offences against the suspects.

The Minister mentioned that Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, the former Chief of Staff, had questions to answer regarding the rehabilitation of the Australia House, and that all was set for the prosecution of persons in connection with the operations of the Ghana @50 Secretariat. Also the former Deputy Energy Minister, Mr. K.T. Hammond, according to Mrs. Iddrisu, was being interrogated in relation to deals at the Energy Ministry.

The former First Lady and President of the December 31st Women’s Movement, Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, who now doubles as the first Vice Chairman of the NDC, appealed to the government to consider the retentions of minister and board members from the Ashanti Region in order to make the party attractive in the region.