General News of Friday, 3 July 2009

Source: Daily Guide

Muntaka faces antoa

Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed MubarakThe interdicted Chief Director at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr Albert Ampong, has threatened to seek justice from the dreaded ‘Antoa Nyamaa’ deity over his mistreatment by the President Mills government.

Not prepared to let go his excruciating interdiction, Mr Ampong has vowed to storm Antoa with schnapps, eggs and other ritually-required materials to seek the face of the powerful river deity over his predicament.

According to a Kessben FM news report on Saturday, the former coordinator at the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) says he would solicit the intervention of the sensational river deity if attempts to seek justice from the legal system proved futile.

In the said news item, the interdicted Chief Director who is a native of Antoa, an ancient town in the Kwabre district of the Ashanti Region, noted that currently, he was consulting with his lawyers to see how best they could contest the government’s action in court.

Mr Ampong stated, according to the report, that if government abused its power and manipulate the legal system to his disadvantage, he would have no other option but to seek intercession from the spiritual realm.

In the about three minutes’ radio report, the ex-Chief Director at the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs emphasised that he would not sit unconcerned for the reputation he had built over the years in the civil service to be tarnished just like that.

Mr Ampong’s interdiction was contained in the National Security’s investigative report which cleared Hon Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka of all the 17 allegations of financial impropriety at the Youth and Sports Ministry leveled against him.

Also recommended for interdiction was Mr Adim Odoom, the Principal Accountant at the Ministry who together with Mr Ampong blew the whistle about Hon Muntaka’s financial indiscretion to President Mills.

Outlandishly, the report recommended that Messrs Ampong and Odoom, the whistle blowers, be made to refund to the state, an amount of GH¢20,000 being the sum of money Hon Muntaka allegedly ordered them to pay him without going through due process.

According to the report which has been met with mixed feelings from the public, there was no documentary proof regarding the aforementioned transaction, therefore, the whistle blowers be made to refund the said amount to the state.

Interestingly, the report vehemently exonerated Hon Muntaka from all the allegations but charged him to refund to the state, the amount of money spent on the travel of Miss Zinayela, his alleged girlfriend, to Germany and Cote d’Ivoire.

Amusingly, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, who was asked by President Mills to step aside to ensure smooth investigations, has announced that he has resigned from his position.

Meanwhile, some residents in Kumasi have expressed shock at the manner in which President Mills has so far treated the alleged financial impropriety involving the youngest ever Minister at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Residents in the Garden City who have been calling into various radio stations since the report was made public say President Mills’ approach to the issue was a sharp deviation from his touted promise that he would not hesitate to ruthlessly deal with corrupt officials in his government.

What is disgusting, according to the callers, is the directive that the two whistle blowers should refund to the state an amount of GH¢20,000 because their allegation on that score could not be ascertained.

Collectively, they argued that the action of the government would promote corruption especially at the ministries because concerned Ghanaians could no longer muster courage to blow the whistle on corrupt practices they may be privy to.