MoU between GYEEDA, Goodwill Group was binding
A Former Deputy National Co-ordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Mr Nuhu Hamidan, yesterday told the Financial Division of the High Court in Accra that he had now realised that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the GYEEDA management and the Goodwill International Group (GIG) was binding.
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Testifying in the trial of a former National Co-ordinator of GYEEDA, Abuga Pele, and Assibit Akpeena, the CEO of GIG, Mr Hamidan, who is now the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Asokore Mampong, told the court that as the then officer in charge of monitoring, he was impressed with the implementation of the models.
Answering questions from Mr Thaddeus Sory, counsel for Pele, the witness said they never complained about the work of the monitoring team, which had examined the implementation of the models.
He said he was also aware that Assibit had presented a proposal to GYEEDA.
Earlier submission
Earlier, Mr Hamidan had denied knowledge of the contents of the MoU signed between the GYEEDA management and GIG.
He had told the court that he was not included in the preparation of the document and that he had signed it without reading and had since not seen the document.
Again, he had told the court that he did not remember the Minister of Youth and Sports making a speech to the press that the NYEP, through the initiative of the ministry and the World Bank, had secured a grant of US$65m for the project.
According to him, he was also not aware that in October 11, 2011, when he was still in charge of Operations and later Administration, there had been a launch at the Alisa Hotel in connection with the exit plan of the NYEP.
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He explained that all modules came with an exit plan, with each of them being launched at any given point, and could not remember the particular launch counsel was talking about.
He said all he could remember was a proposal letter to create one million jobs, which was sent to the then Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama.
Charges against the two
Pele has pleaded not guilty to two counts of abetment of crime and intentionally misapplying public property, and five counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the state.
Assibit, on the other hand, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of defrauding by false pretence and five counts of dishonestly causing loss to public property.
Both accused persons are currently on bail by the court, presided over by Mrs Justice Afia Siriboe Asare-Botwe.