Sam George

NPP using Stephen Opuni to divert attention from BOST corruption - Sam George

Enoch Darfah Frimpong Politics Mar - 14 - 2018 , 17:22 3 minutes read

The Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram in the Greater Accra region, Mr Sam Nartey George (Gyata) says the filing of 27 charges against former Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Stephen Kwabena Opuni is part of a grand scheme to divert attention from corruption within the current government circles.

According to him, the filing of the charges against Dr Opuni on Tuesday was specifically done to divert attention from the corruption allegations exposed at the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC).

In a radio interview on Accra-based Class FM Wednesday evening, Mr Nartey said: “this trial is a sad day for our democracy.”

“This government has shown that whenever it is exposed and stripped naked and revealed to the Ghanaian public for what it is truly made up of, a bunch of corrupt nepotistic individuals who are reaping this country dry, all they engage in is diversionary tactics," he said.

He said the government has “eggs in its faces when one of the darling boys of the President, the MD for BOST has been accused of yet again, for the umpteenth time in this administration of gross corruption.”

“You remember that when he [BOST MD] was accused previously, my colleague in Parliament honourable Kennedy Agyapong dared anybody in the NPP including the President to try and touch him, and all hell will break loose in the NPP. A few days later the President cleared him of all wrong-doing. Again he has been accused and this case of Dr Opuni and Seidu Agongo has been brought up,” to cover up.

According to the Ningo Prampram lawmaker, “this was much ado about nothing... this is a dance of no consequence on the part of the NPP.”

“Look, the NPP is failing as a government, this is a government the current CEO of COCOBOD made accusations against Dr Opuni that he had awarded ghost cocoa roads, cocoa roads that did not exist but when the Ranking Member on the Roads Committee challenged him on the floor of Parliament, he has been unable in six months to provide us with one road that supports his assertion."

Charge Akufo-Addo and current COCOBOD CEO

In the estimation of Mr Nartey, the current CEO of COCOBOD, Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo and President Akufo-Addo should rather be charged in court for causing financial loss to the state for halting the construction of cocoa roads.

“Look, if anybody has to stand trial in our current Ghanaian courts, it is the current CEO of COCOBOD and His Excellency the President himself, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for willfully causing financial loss to the state…Cocoa road contracts were awarded and many of these contracts had gotten to prima seal stage, sub base structures had been put in place before the loss of the election by the NDC in 2016."

"This government 15 months down the line have demobilised all contractors and asked them to leave because you think they are phantom projects and you think that you want to witch-hunt some people. The rains have come already and we are about to enter the second season of rain under this administration and the prima sealing and base structure on most of those roads have been washed off and eventually when this government asks those contractors to go back to site, you think that the cost of the roads are going to be the same? There is going to be variations in some instances as high as 25 per cent. Who has willfully occasioned that loss to the Ghanaian taxpayer, is it not this current CEO and the President.?"

Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh

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