Amidu will be frustrated in PPA scandal investigation - NDC

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has cast doubts on the possibility of the Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu to investigate allegations of corruption involving A. B. Adjei, the suspended Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).

President Nana Akufo Addo referred a case of possible corruption in the award of contracts to a company, TDL owned by Mr A. B. Adjei. The decision to suspend the PPA boss and to get him investigated following the airing of an investigative documentary by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.

But addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Communications Officer of the opposition NDC Sammy Gyamfi said the lamentations of Mr Martin Amidu over lack of cooperation on the part of other state institutions and government officials in investigating and prosecuting corrupt officials is evident of attempts by government to protect acts of corruption.

“Besides, ladies and gentlemen, given recent complaints by the Special Prosecutor about how appointees of President Akufo-Addo have been frustrating and sabotaging his mandate, the NDC doubts whether anything good can and will come out of the investigations of the Office of the Special Prosecutor into this matter. We do not think that the SP will get the needed cooperation from the relevant MDAs and state actors to conduct credible investigation into this matter, especially now that several of these persons and institutions stand indicted in this scandal,” he said.

The opposition National Democratic Congress believes the President has shown ill-fate in the fight against corruption by “the promotion of corruption and spares no opportunity to defend the corrupt activities of his errant appointees. He has perfected the act of being a clearing agent of corruption in his government. His failure to live up to his much-vaunted anti-corruption credentials and punish corruption on the part of his appointees is what has emboldened many in his government to engage in corruption with such brazenness and boldness.

Aside normalizing the practice of corruption in his government, President Akufo-Addo himself is not left out of the ongoing rot in his government, as evidenced by the executive approval he gave for the fraudulent and highly inflated Mytilineos deal through which Ghana would have lost a whopping $800m but for the vigilance of the NDC minority caucus in parliament.”

They called for the immediate dismissal of the suspended PPA boss and the dissolution of the Board.

“We demand the immediate arrest and prosecution of Mr. A.B Adjei, as well other officials of TDL such as the General Manager, Directors and other stakeholders of the company. Anything short of the above decisive actions will go a long to fortify wide public opinion which was recently amplified by Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe, that corruption under Akufo-Addo is the worst ever, and that President Akufo-Addo will go down as the most corrupt President in Ghana’s history,” he added.