Mallam Issa Eyeing Return

Mallam Ali Yusuf Issah, one-time Minister for Youth and Sports, who was jailed for causing financial loss to the state, says he intends to contest the December 2008 Parliamentary election, provided President Kufuor would grant him a Warrant of Presidential Pardon.

The former minister disclosed that he was eyeing the Bawku Central, Zebilla, or Offinso South Constituency seats, and had started the ?fight? to get obstacles in his way removed. He vented his spleen on the Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, whom he accused of failing to help him when he was in trouble.

According to Issah, since he was freed from prison some four years ago, he had petitioned the Attorney-General?s office but was yet to get any response.

The former minister, who was jailed after three months in office as minister for failing to account for $46,000 in his care, could only go to the legislature if his dented record was rubbed off, as the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution forbids ex-convicts from standing for election. The Mallam made his intentions known in an interview on JoyFM last Friday.

Speaking on the ?Total Recall? segment of the programme, the ex-minister said the law on causing financial loss to the state, for which he was jailed, should not be repealed. Even though he insisted he was innocent of the crime, he contended that the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government would be seen to be running away from its own shadows if it repealed the law.

The People?s National Convention (PNC) vice chairman said he was made a scapegoat because he did not belong to the Danquah/Busia political tradition. He said one person who let him down was the Vice President because he looked up to the Number Two Citizen as ?a northern brother?, adding that he had paid numerous visits to the Office of the President ever since his release but had not received any assistance. The only time he came close to receiving any assistance, he indicated, was when President Kufuor asked him to present a business proposal, adding, that too did not yield any fruits.

Meanwhile, he hopes to get his pardon from the President so he could run in the 2008 parliamentary race. It was not clear whether he would run as an independent candidate or on the ticket of his traditional PNC. It would be recalled that Issah was in 2001 convicted for the loss of $46,000 meant as winning bonus for the senior national soccer team, the Black Stars, who were then on a national assignment in Sudan.

The money was reported missing from Mallam Issah?s suitcase while on a trip to the venue of the team?s World Cup qualifying match in the North African country. Even though the then minister had maintained that he was innocent, he was advised to resign his position, in his own interest. That resignation was announced in a statement signed by Ms. Elizabeth Ohene, government spokesperson at the time.

?Mallam Issah has taken the step to save himself and the government further embarrassment from the event surrounding the loss of the suitcase with $46,000 during his recent trip to Sudan?, the statement had noted, adding that he pleaded for an institution of a probe into the activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Ghana Football Association (GFA).

But in a swift response, the Mallam denied ever resigning his position, prompting a lot of brouhaha over the issue. He was subsequently charged on two counts of stealing and fraudulently causing financial loss to the state.

During the months of trial that ensued at the Accra High Court, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mr. V.B. Garibah said the suitcase in which the minister claimed the money was stolen, was not tampered with.

According to him, his outfit had noted during investigations that the suitcase had a small dent, but was of the view that the hole was too small for a thief to get assess to the contents of the suitcase.

ASP Garibah further told the court that since the suitcase had keys and a security code, it would take even an expert between 8 to 24 hours to go through the process of opening it. At the end of the trial, a four-year jail term was slapped on him, but after one year in prison, Mallam Issah was freed due to poor health. He regained his freedom in July 2003 among 2,000 other inmates whom the President granted amnesty in commemoration of the country?s 43rd anniversary of gaining a republican status. The 2,000 prisoners were freed on the basis of exemplary conduct, compassion or poor health.