Act on A-G’s 'gargantuan crimes' allegation, Jake tells Mills

The Chairman of New Patriotic Party (NPP), Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, has called on President John Evans Atta-Mills to act on claims by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice that a colleague Minister is involved in the cover up of 'gargantuan crimes' against the nation.

In an exclusive interview with the New Statesman, Jake stated: “The government’s Chief Legal Officer has made serious allegations against another member of the President’s cabinet. The allegation, coming from this GH¢58 million fraudulent payment to Alfred Woyome, is that a cabinet minister is perverting the cause of justice to cover this gargantuan crime against the state.”

According to the NPP Chairman, Mr Martin Amidu has made it clear that as far as he is concerned a serious crime has been committed against the national purse and that he [Amidu] is being threatened, abused and frustrated from bringing the perpetrators to book.

“We are calling on the President to take immediate action on this serious allegation from the Attorney-General, and should immediately get the Attorney General to substantiate the allegation”, Jake observed.

It was imperative, Jake maintained, that President Mills immediately called to be known the identity of the Minister alleged to be implicated in the 'gargantuan crime' against Ghanaians and find out who is working to have it covered up.

Jake, in light of this, urged the President to show for once that he can stand up for the national interest.

“We are hearing that pressure is being brought to bear on Martin Amidu to resign for apparently bringing the name of the government into disrepute. That would be a dangerous decision for governance.

"The President should either get the A-G to substantiate his allegation or fire him. Anything in between would amount to a desperate attempt to cover up,” Jake maintained.

In his opinion what the A-G’s public statement has done is to confirm the fears of the oppostion and and Ghanaians at large that there is a grand cover up scheme over the Woyome matter.

“That is why we will continue to insist on a public hearing and that is why our people are prepared to go before the Public Accounts Committee or any other independent public inquiry and not EOCO,” he stated.

The NPP Chairman warned that President Mills was walking dangerously on the tightrope of impeachment, adding that “he cannot fail to act against his own AG’s serious allegation against another member of his cabinet."

"The people of Ghana demand and deserve full disclosure on this matter. “This is the nastiest and most wicked form of naked corruption anywhere in the world. And the President’s attitude towards this only goes to show his own complicity in this”, Jake charged.