The Member of Parliament for the Adenta Constituency, Emmanuel Nii Ashie Moore, has admitted that he was jailed in Belgium for Child trafficking.
His incarceration some years ago remained as rumour until he was pushed to spill the beans by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Adenta.
Speaking recently on Radio Gold, an Accra based radio station, the MP recalled that, but for the intervention of the Queen of Belgium who graciously pruned his sentence to eight months, he would have spent three years in jail for child trafficking.
The MP explained that the country caged him for not acquiring the right documentation on some two children whom according to him were his sister's children, before taking them abroad. The interview by Ashie Moore was akin to someone who was confessing before receiving the Holy Communion in church as he corroborated virtually all the allegations the group made against him.
When asked about the tension between him and the former Adenta Municipal Chief Executive, Kakra Vanlare relative to her rejection at an Assembly vote as MCE nominee, the MP noted that, she (Kakra Vanlare) vowed not to help him during the 2012 campaign, adding that those who helped him in the 2012 general elections were rather to be rewarded.
He again confirmed the long-held rumour that indeed he and the former MCE were in a relationship until it turned sour. He recalled with nostalgia how the MCE threw him out of her house when he went to request for their differences to be settled and forge ahead for the betterment of their party.
The MP further admitted that he was once known as Justice Nana Kofi Owusu, but explained that it was his mother who suggested he changed his name to Emmanuel Ashie before leaving the shores of Ghana and not because he had any past criminal records.
He stunned his listeners when he openly admitted that during his secondary school days at Nungua Secondary, he inadvertently stabbed a school mate during a quarrel and explained that, he held a can tin to protect himself which eventually cut his colleague in the ensuing scuffle. He, however, dispelled the notion that the young man died as a result and even went ahead to mention his name.
The MP was, however, surprised the leaders of the Concerned Citizens could not approach him and ask for his reasons rather chose to go to the media given that they are all members of the National Democratic Congress.
Mrs. Vanlare could not garner the mandatory two-third majority of votes cast to have granted her the mandate; a situation the concerned youth believe was masterminded by Ashie Moore.
At a news conference held in Accra two weeks ago, the group challenged the MP to come publicly to deny or corroborate their allegations.