FGJ charges Akufo-Addo to speak on bribery allegation

A pressure group, Forum for Governance and Justice (FGJ) says the flag bearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo must speak and clear his name regarding an alleged bribery scandal related to judgment debt in 2005.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Tuesday, the Convener of the group, Dr. Clement Apaak questioned why the NPP flag bearer remained tight-lipped on the matter, insisting Ghanaians are anxiously waiting for his responds on the impasse.

To the group, a reaction from Nana Akufo-Addo and the other power brokers of the party who have been cited in the allegation, would go a long way to end unnecessary conjectures and preserve their reputation.

An Accra High Court Commercial Division on July 15, 2010, dismissed a case that Uniex Ghana Limited brought before it against Rockshell Limited, a construction firm, because the plaintiff's case had been based on a refusal of the defendant to pay a fifty per cent bribe as precondition for paying out a judgment.

The said bribe, according to the group, was meant to be paid in 2005 to Nana Akufo-Addo, then Foreign Affairs Minister, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani, then Chief of Staff and the late Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, former Finance Minister.

Against this backdrop, the group could not comprehend why Akufo-Addo and the others who were mentioned during the hearing of the case did not challenge the accusations that they demanded fifty per cent of the amount involved.

The group queried: “As a legal luminary, is Nana Akufo-Addo not aware of the import of a statement made on oath in court or is it that he and others are and remain unconcerned or are not interested in protecting their reputation?”