Akufo-Addo indulging criminal NDA syndicate due to his reluctance to prosecute case – Martin Kpebu
A private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has stated that President Akufo-Addo is involved in corruption and its related activities reported under his tenure.
According to him, a recent brewing issue regarding some alleged signature forgery in a ¢10 million case at the Northern Development Authority (NDA) has been left unattended.
“I think so far the President, probably, hasn’t heard; maybe, we need to repeat it more forcefully for him to hear that he is part of the criminal syndicates at the Jubilee House – the President is certainly part.
“All these corruptions cannot happen without the President’s involvement,” he claimed in an interview on Newsfile on JoyNews.
He contended that this forms part of a tall list of corruption cases that fell on the President’s desk only to be swept under the carpet.
The disappointed lawyer argued that President Akufo-Addo, despite promises he made, has demonstrated “an abysmal failure” in fighting bribery and corruption in his own government.
This comes after a survey conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice found that about ¢5 billion was paid in cash as bribes to public officials last year, according to a survey.
The 2021 Ghana Integrity of Public Services Survey (GIPSS) investigated the actual payment of bribes, a departure from the perception that previous studies surveyed.
Owing to this, Martin Kpebu intimated that the President must step down over these revelations and others that never caught his attention because he has deceived Ghanaians.
“We have to say with all the energy we can master that he is part of the criminal syndicate and that, look, we will not take this from him – he has to just step down. He is not interested in any process because in opposition, he said he would use the Anas principle, he wasn’t going to use this adversarial system.
“What’s the Anas principle – private investigations. The President should tell you and me how many Anas principles he has used since he came – an abysmal failure, this is a 419,” he said unequivocally.
The Northern Development Authority case
Mr Kpebu had earlier drawn the attention of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to accusations of irregularities at the Northern Development Authority (NDA).
This followed a former NDA CEO’s petition to the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, over a fraud issue involving his successor.
Dr Sulemana Anamzoya, in the petition, accused his successor, Sumaila Abdul Rahman, of fraudulently falsifying figures and forging his signature to cash in a ¢10,400,000 contract.
The two-page petition, which was copied to President Akufo-Addo, detailed how the Sumaila Abdul Rahman-led management committed the fraud in his name.
In his petition, Martin Kpebu called on the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyabeng to launch a full-blown investigation into the development.
“In the circumstances kindly investigate the cases presented above in accordance with your mandate as by law stipulated in the Office of Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) to save mother Ghana the millions of Ghana Cedis we risk losing,” he said in his petition.
The OSP is yet to commence investigations into the case.
