... To justify allegations, says Ken Agyepong

Arguably the most critical and outspoken New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP), the MP for the Assin North constituency, Ken Agyepong has urged the government to prosecute members and cronies of the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) government who by foul means benefited from the divesture and sales of state properties during their term of office.

According to him, the sales and divestiture of these state properties to private individuals who did not pay the rightful prices for them have greatly affected the fortunes of the country since they have virtually crippled those companies and abandoned them in a dilapidated state.

He indicated that until they were divested and sold into hands he described as wrong ones since they had close affiliations with the then government, those companies were vibrant and served as an avenue of employment for Ghanaians, so having been collapsed by these NDC functionaries, there was the need to prosecute them.

According to him, this is the only means by which the NPP, as a party, can prove to the NDC and its cronies that all the wild and series of allegations levelled against them by, especially the NPP, contain no iota of truth since they always seek to rubbish those claims by mere lip services, stressing that there is ample and credible evidence to prosecute them.

He noted that he always became startled and saddened when members of the NDC sought to play to the gallery by discrediting such claims with mere denunciations though there was credible evidence, which could be used against them in any reputable law court.

This, he indicated, would be the only means to gag them from making weird and unsubstantiated allegations against the incumbent government of the NPP.

Obviously worried about the continuous delay by none other than his own government in preferring charges to prosecute those beneficiaries, he noted that this had led to the collapse of most state assets.

He had well tabulated a number of companies, including the Nsawam cannery, the State Transport Company (Vanef), the Ambassador hotel, the Meridian hotel amongst others as examples of companies which suffered the wrath of the NDC government: ?All these and other state properties were either sold or divested into the hands of people who are either core members of the NDC or their associates and family members as well,? he stated.

Speaking on Peace FM?s Kokrokoo morning show, he rubbished claims by, especially members of the NDC and the Committee for Joint Action (the Wahalians) which sought to create the impression that President Kufuor had a hand in the business transaction which led to the purchase of the controversial hotel by his son, John Addo Kufuor a.k.a Chief.

He expressed shock at the manner in which the whole hotel saga had been politicized and orchestrated to involve the name of the president though he is reported to have denied his involvement and using his influence to twist the arms of Anthony Saoud, the hotel?s original owner in selling it to his son.

According to him, in as much as he believes in the rule of law and the tenets of democracy under which the NDC could make unsubstantiated and weird allegations against the president, they had no point to prove since no documentary evidence had so far been provided to either justify the president?s involvement in the said transaction or not.

?It is totally out of place to implicate and discredit the president with such allegations which obviously have no basis. As far as I am concerned, nobody has been able to prove his guilt,? he said.

Further, he noted that, ?I really don?t understand why Ghanaians and the media have chosen to blow the issue out of proportion even when the lady, Gizzelle Yajzi has not be bold enough to provide either a documentary evidence or make any physical appearance as Soud has done, yet the media and some Ghanaians believe this concoction,? asking rhetorically, ?where is the cassette they claim she has??

Hon. Agyepong therefore challenged any member of the NDC or the Wahalians to justify their claims and allegations of the president?s involvement in the hotel saga with credible documentary evidence or stop the deceptive tactics, which he said, was only meant to infuse bad perception in the minds of Ghanaians against the president and his government.

In this vein, he said any plans to divert government?s attention would woefully backfire since it is still on track, hence urging all Ghanaians to diffuse these negative propaganda pieces being targeted at the president.

Meanwhile, on the same programme, the national organizer of the NDC, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo urged Hon Agyepong to use his position as a Member of Parliament to institute the said legal action against whoever he suspected of having benefited wrongly from the sales and divestiture of those national assets since the constitution does not in anyway bar him from doing so.

According to him, though this was not the first time he had heard such wild allegations coming from the MP, he believed it was incumbent on him as a Ghanaian to pursue the issue in court rather than sit on radio programmes to make the allegations.