....to go to court over $5bn allegation
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has challenged the President, John Kufuor and dared him to go to court if he thinks the allegations of his indebtedness to a Kuwaiti oil company to the tune of $5bn are not true. The NDC is asking the President to come clean on the allegations and stop playing diversionary tactics.

Reacting to a 14-day ultimatum given to it by the Presidency Thursday October 16, 2008, to retract the allegation or justify it with evidence, the NDC has instead insisted that the President should go to court.

Speaking to Citi News, the Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, Fiifi Kwetey said, “we find this whole thing so ridiculous for the Spokesperson of the President, first and foremost to presume that the NDC as a party has made an allegation against the President without bothering to check his facts.”

He said the Presidency has failed to check the facts, which according to him if they had done, they would have realized that the NDC as a political party did not make any allegation against the President. He accused the Presidency of failing “to do their homework properly.

”He said the NDC did not make any allegations against the President, but instead what the party did was to point out to the President to address allegations of a scandal that are being made against him and “stop creating diversionary situations talking about the imaginary health problems of Prof. Mills.”

He said the President and his close associates should come clean on the allegations, saying the NDC considers the ultimatum as the “blowing of hot air.” Mr. Kwetey accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of “having a track record of no truth telling.” He referred to a denial issued sometime ago by the President’s former Press Secretary, Mr. Kwabena Agyepong about the ownership of the Africa Regent Hotel.

According to him, the Presidency denied any association with the hotel by any member of the President’s family, but as it turned out, the hotel is owned by the President’s son. Mr. Kwetey thinks that the President should be thanking the NDC for helping him by telling him to address the critical issues of the allegations that are being made against him.

“Welcome, go to court, go to court,” he urged. Fiifi Kwetey argued that the President and his close associates have a lot to explain to Ghanaians because when they came into power they did not have wealth, but they have suddenly become wealthy over time.

In a response however, the Deputy Information Minister, Mr. Frank Agyekum has said going to court is an option. He told Citi News that the allegation is “a cock and bull story.” He insisted that “the NDC just manufactured something from their imagination, it is purely fabricated.”

He said the NDC is unable to indicate the specific court in The Hague at which the President has been sued. He also said they are unable to prove anything or mention specific names, contacts or companies that are involved in the matter. He said the NDC has gone too far in this matter and they have two weeks to advise themselves.

“We have gone this hog so many times, and it is about time some corrective measures were taken” he said. “There is absolutely no truth in it, they just mount the platform to lie and lie and lie and lie. This is just one more example of the very dirty lies that they throw to the public hoping that they will win public sympathy for whatever reason, but we are going to expose them as we have done in the past,” adding that “we think they have gone too far, they have two weeks to clean their acts or they are going to face the consequences,” he warned.

Mr. Agyekum also warned that the newspaper that first carried the false allegations, The Weekly Standard should advise itself.