From Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s early morning epistle on the ambulance scandal through the discharge and acquittal of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa, to the clash between minority and majority members on the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Tuesday, July 30, turned out to be an eventful one, particularly for the Ghanaian media.

Okudzeto Ablakwa set the country on course with the latest installment of his ongoing exposé on the ambulances purchased by the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives. While the previous revelations by the North Tongu lawmaker were damning, the latest sets were even more concerning, with Okudzeto Ablakwa alleging that the contract for the purchase of the ambulances by the state was handled by eight companies, six of which were formed within six months after the arrival of the Akufo-Addo government.

Once again, Stephen Okoro, a Nigerian businessman with strong ties to the family of President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was also linked with being co-director of one of the companies that got awarded the ambulance purchasing contract.

The North Tongu lawmaker claims that one of the companies, Elok Consult and Services Limited, has its directors as Stephen Okoro, who allegedly is a son-in-law of President Akufo-Addo, and his brother, Solomon Okereke.

“The companies used by the presidential familial gang are: Elok Consult and Services Limited; BEFT Engineering Works Limited; Bluemix Company Limited; Prestige Era Company Limited; RDC Company Limited; Luxury World Auto Group Limited; and Quality Suppliers and Builders Company Limited.

“Instructively, a majority, 6 out of the 8 companies, were formed between April and September 2017 — the year Akufo-Addo became President of Ghana. All 8 companies have no track record and expertise in the importation of ambulances.

“Elok Consult and Services Limited was incorporated on 25th July, 2017. The directors are Stephen Okoro, the man who gave President Akufo-Addo his first granddaughter, and another gentleman who used the name Solomon Okereke for the company registration. Remember, the politically exposed Stephen Okoro is also a business partner of Gyankroma Akufo-Addo. They have incorporated numerous companies together, as I revealed in Part 2,” parts of his post read.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also questioned the figure disclosed by then Minister for Special Development Initiatives, Mavis Hawa Koomson, stating that the amount Ghana splurged is not a true reflection of what he considers to be the actual value of the ambulances.

In a detailed and mathematical breakdown of the figures, Okudzeto Ablakwa arrived at the conclusion that the US$54.3 million paid by Ghana should have at least fetched the country 678 ambulances.

“From page 2 (paragraph 4) of the Auditor-General’s Performance Audit, government officials told auditors that the 307 Mercedes Benz ambulances were procured at a total amount of US$54.3 million. (Performance Audit attached). This figure of US$54.3 million is consistent with what then Special Development Initiatives Minister, Hawa Koomson, repeated to the Ghanaian media.

"Meanwhile, page 24 (paragraph 46) of the same Performance Audit states that a unit price of the ambulance is US$80,000.00. (Performance Audit attached). At US$80,000.00 for one ambulance, the 307 ambulances should give us a total of US$24,560,000.00 and not US$54.3 million.

"This really means that the procurement of the ambulances was unconscionably inflated by a scary US$29,740,000.00. The wickedly padded figure of US$29.7 million is more than the actual cost of all the 307 ambulances.

"Even if you add a 10% insurance premium of US$8,000.00 per ambulance, the procurement of the 307 ambulances would still be inflated by a massive US$27,284,000.00. Note, however, the Auditor-General discovered that insurance premiums were not paid on the 307 ambulances.

"It makes sense to conclude that the US$54.3 million taxpayer funds spent by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government should have provided Ghanaians with 678 ambulances and not 307. This is most criminal!”

Ablakwa out, Forson-Jakpa in

The strategic timing of Ablakwa’s release of his information ensures he mostly dominates the morning news stories, but just when Ghanaians were done exhausting the latest allegations, the Court of Appeal delivered a significant ruling on another ambulance case.

This case did not involve Okudzeto Ablakwa but rather his leader in Parliament, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, and businessman Richard Jakpa, who were standing trial for allegedly causing financial loss to the state for their roles in the purchase of ambulances by the erstwhile Mahama government.

The two aforementioned persons had run to the Appeals Court to seek justice after their motion for submission of no case was rejected by Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe of the High Court.

The Appeals Court, in a 2-1 verdict, granted the motion by Ato Forson and Richard Jakpa and discharged them of the charges slapped against them by the state.

The court, in its ruling, noted that the state, which was represented by the Attorney-General, did not adduce enough evidence to establish a prima facie case for the trial of Ato Forson and Jakpa.

The case was handled by three justices, with Justices Philip Bright Mensah and Kweku Tawiah Ackaah-Boafo being on the majority side, while Justice Alex Poku-Acheampong dissented.

The ruling triggered a flurry of activities in the media, beginning with Richard Jakpa’s immediate statement, which included direct attacks on Godfred Dame and the trial judge at the high court.

What Richard Jakpa said

“I’m going for my passport from the High Court, Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe can no longer intimidate me.”

Ato Forson’s reaction

A simple post on social media, extolling the justness of God, is how Ato Forson reacted to the ruling.

“Romans 9:14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all,” he stated.

Attorney-General’s reaction

The office of the Attorney-General issued a two-page statement, indicating that the fight was far from over and that it was going to the Supreme Court to contest the ruling by the Appeals Court.

“2. The Office of the Attorney-General considers the decision of the Court of Appeal to be perverse in the quest for public accountability and the rule of law. The decision clearly is heavily against the weight of the cogent evidence led by the prosecution in substantiation of all the charges against the accused persons at the trial,” parts of the statement said.

Appointment Committee's shenanigans

While the reactions to the Court of Appeal ruling were ongoing, members of the Appointment Committee were at each other’s throats after the members belonging to the Minority caucus accused the Majority Leader, Afenyo-Markin, of sneaking the vetting of two Supreme Court nominees into the agenda for the day.

In audio recordings acquired by GhanaWeb’s Parliamentary Correspondent, Nimatu Yakubu Atouyese, during the meeting of the MPs on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, members of the Minority took turns to express their disappointments in the Majority Leader.

Mahama Ayariga, one of the MPs who first expressed his disappointment at this move, wondered why there was such a rush by the majority to have the nominees vetted.

“Leader, we were here yesterday, we had a meeting at which we discussed this matter and said we do not want to embarrass these judges. It’s a new Appointments Committee. Notice was served to the nominees to come without us having had a meeting – no meeting. Notice was served to the public to produce memos with no meeting.

“Then yesterday, we met and said what is the rush? We have a lot of time so let’s take our time and not embarrass these judges. Let’s do a decent job… only to see in a midnight WhatsApp message exchanges that we are being summoned as a committee to come and vet these people…,” he said.

On his part, the Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Governs Agbodza, described the move by Afenyo-Markin as an illegal one intended to smear the hard-won integrities of the Supreme Court nominees.

“I can confirm that when I came in here this morning, only GTV was here, so we asked, what about the other parliamentary press corps? We didn’t get any proper answer so, the Minority Leader directed that let the parliamentary press corps be here, so that is the fact…

“Just to add, chairman, you have called an illegal meeting; a meeting to vet members of the apex court of our land – the Supreme Court, called at midnight, can only be an illegal meeting, or ill-motivated meeting. What will be the reason why a party in government will like to vet very respected people in this country where if all of us disagree, they are the ones who will step in for us; their vetting will be such a controversy.

“I put on the platform, ‘Don’t actually smear the Supreme Court Justices by getting them involved in this shabby arrangement because there’s no rush. In fact, there’s no vacancy at the Supreme Court which is detrimental to the delivery of justice as we speak… and then we are told that the Majority Leader came back and rubbished all that we have done including his members on the committee… so, I consider this meeting as an illegal meeting to put together members of a legal committee. How can this be? Nobody on this team is against any judge. In fact, we actually want more of them to be vetted in a decorous and respectful way. So, nobody should blame the judges, the problem being created is created by President Akufo-Addo-Dr-Bawumia-led Majority in parliament,” he also said.

This story could not have ended without mentioning the ‘small matter’ Dr Randy Abbey of Good Morning Ghana handing Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, MP for Sissala East Constituency another ‘not too proud’ moment on live television.

EK