EOCO Report – NPP and NDC Have Questions to Answer

………woyome is a litmus test for President Mills.

The Convention People’s party (CPP) recalls that President H.E. John Evans Atta Mills on the 20th December 2011 directed the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the payment of Millions of Ghana Cedis to Vamed/Waterville Engineering and Mr. Alfred Woyome as Judgement debt. EOCO was also tasked to verify the total amount of monies paid out as judgment debts since the present administration took over the reins of government on 7th of January, 2009 and who the beneficiaries are.

Since the beginning of the “Woyome Issue”, the country has witnessed commentary from all sections of our society. There has been a huge outcry and a great deal of anger from the public.

Our party together with many across our nation had called for a major probe. The wish of every Ghanaian has been that the nation must know the truth and that any wrong doing is punished, and the monies recovered if possible. We believe that seeking the truth has been the overriding wish of all Ghanaians and thus it was unfortunate that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) failed to cooperate with it during its investigations to unearth the truth. To the extent that leading members of the NPP who were invited by the investigative body had sought court action to block their appearance before EOCO, leaves in the minds of Ghanaians an impression that they have something to hide.

Whilst EOCO may not have been the ideal institution to investigate because it could not for example compel or sub-poena all to cooperate with its investigation we believe however that once an investigation was instituted it was incumbent on all with information to cooperate. The Public Accounts Committee of parliament (PAC) will as a matter of course have its own hearing and thus there was no reason to boycott any investigation by other state institutions. The Convention People’s Party (CPP) raised a number of questions from the outset to which further questions must be added following the preliminary report:

§ What did the President know and when did he know it? § Is this a case of gross negligence? § Is it a case of monumental incompetence? § Is it a case of government corruption? § When will a final report be issued? § Is this a case of system failure; are the technocrats to blame as much as the politicians?

The 16 page interim report submitted by EOCO to the President answers some questions but raises many more. It is clear that the President was aware of the payment as he is said to have intervened to seek to halt payment.

The report confirms the issue to be a shocking case of monumental negligence, and incompetence. There is evidence of possible corruption of a public official. It remains to be seen perhaps in the final report whether the complicity involves the politicians also. The questions the CPP wants answered however are:

1. Why does a Deputy Attorney General, Ebo Barton Oduro, comment to the effect that Government had no defence to the claim brought against it by Alfred Woyome, if the President had been asking the AG’s Department to seek to challenge the ruling?

2. Why with overwhelming evidence that Mr Woyome was not entitled did the Attorney General not mount a defence?

3. Why did experience men and women of government and with all the evidence available to them, not see that Mr Woyome had no capacity to sue government for the payment.

4. Why did the previous NPP government breach a Public Procurement Act that they had passed in 2003 by abrogating the contract and bringing onboard a company not shortlisted through the tendering process?

The 16 page interim report also seems to corroborate statements made by the dismissed Attorney-General, Mr. Martin Amidu in his press release dated the 11th of January 2012 where he states, ‘I will carry out that promise in spite of the fact that hard core criminals in our society today have made it a habit to hold paid membership cards of major political parties in the Republic as an unconstitutional insurance against crime and criminal prosecutions.’ The suggestion that there are hardcore criminals seeking indemnity from prosecution by holding membership of political parties is given credence by examples such as Mr. Amoateng who is currently serving term in jail in the US for drug trafficking. The general lack of a political will to pursue the many accusations of crimes against politicians and the many non-convictions of politicians for crimes against the state over the years seems to suggest a calculated attempts by the political elite to cover up for each other, especially when the cases are lost on technicalities and not on the substance. Mr. Martin Amidu also states, ‘I remember the gallant men and women who laid down their lives in diverse ways that this county must live and serve the cause of the majority of the ordinary people whose sweat has consistently been exploited by the elite and elitist politicians in the name of service to the people.’

There would seem to be a case(s) of “causing financial loss to the state” in both the original abrogation of the Waterville contract and subsequent payments to Alfred Woyome. All relevant persons from both the previous and current government must thus fully co-operate with the police to ascertain the truth and the appropriate and correct charges brought as necessary. No case should be lost on technicalities because the wrong charges have been brought. A strong deterrent needs to be sent to politicians and other public officials alike against the background of the Auditor General’s current Report indicating the level of Financial Irregularity for the year 2010 standing at Cedi1.72 trillion. It is also against a background of wanton waste of public resources – very little of a $750million Eurobond under the NPP government went into productive investment or proceeds from the sale of Ghana Telecom. Furthermore, the seeming rise in the phenomenon of “Judgement Debt” appears to the CPP and all Ghanaians to be a loophole that public officials and politicians are using to empty state coffers of much needed resources for our development. It is a mechanism or process that would seem to have been misused or abused over a period. Based on the above, the CPP urges Government to be meticulous in addressing the issues surrounding the judgement debt and ensure that the political elite of this Country do not continue to milk the sweat and toil of the larger society. All persons found culpable must be dealt with decisively and without fear or favour.

We would ask further that the NDC and NPP join us in calling for a probe of all judgement debts since the beginning of the 4th Republic in 1992.

The CPP has always believed that no government official can steal public funds without the connivance of Public or Civil servants as the EOCO report may be confirming. Many politicians have been blackmailed and held hostage by some public and civil servants because of corrupt acts, allowing these Civil and Public Servants loot the Country as evidence in the Auditor General’s reports. The Woyome case may be the ultimate litmus test for the President. It will determine his commitment to fighting corruption among political appointees, public servants and civil servants. The CPP will support any effort towards this singular objective but will hold the Presidency fully accountable if this case is left to fall through due to technicalities as we have witnessed among the political elite in recent times.

The CPP would now await the final report before commenting further.

SIGNED:

Nii Armah Akomfrah Director of Communication