The PPP is disturbed by the turn of events with regards to the invitation by the Public Accounts Committee to Mr. Alfred Agbezi Woyome. Mr. Woyome has blatantly refused to appear before the committee after three invitations.

Even more disturbing is the defense of his actions by the NDC and some government officials. They should stop defending Alfred Woyome! In other democracies you cannot find Ministers of State running to the defense of those who have committed crimes against the Republic who go on to survive the next elections. The NDC have taken the people of Ghana for granted and we would want to register our disapproval of such attitude on the part of the NDC and some government officials. How can Alfred Woyome treat a state institution like the Public Accounts Committee of Ghana's Parliament with disdain by refusing to appear and have government officials defend such shameful conduct?

Mr. Woyome cannot seek refuge in the NDC. Mr. Woyome is an ordinary citizen of Ghana and he does not become a super human and therefore above the law because of his membership of the National Democratic Congress. Our prisons are choked with Ghanaian citizens without a court conviction or sometimes without appropriate charges preferred against them and yet we treat some people as if they are untouchable! This kind of society is not sustainable. This does not bring peace and unity. Mr. Woyome must be compelled to face the full rigors of the law.

The PPP believes that the only way to stop this disregard for authority that renders our institutions ineffective is to cause a constitutional reform to separate the power of prosecution from the Attorney General and make it an independent state institution fashioned along the lines of the Electoral Commission. We have observed that all the state's investigative bodies; the Economic and Organized Crime Office, the CID, the Public Accounts Committee will have to submit their criminal investigative reports to the Attorney General's office which is unwilling to act on the criminal cases by swiftly prosecuting all those who violate our laws because of unnecessary and excessive executive interference.

On August 21, 2012, the PPP's Flagbearer, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, called on President John Dramani Mahama, Nana Akufo-Addo and all other Presidential Candidates to commit to supporting Constitutional Reform to institutionalize Incorruptible Leadership: 1) Separate the Attorney General's Office from the Ministry of Justice and make it an independent state institution fashioned along the lines of the Electoral Commission, 2) Give Power to the People to Elect District Chief Executives and 3) Prohibit MP's from Serving as Ministers to remove career politicians from executive Governance. We are waiting for President John Dramani Mahama, Nana Akufo-Addo and all other Presidential Candidates to commit to supporting these reforms and to agree to disclose their Assets, Tax Returns, Health Status and Sources of Party Funding on the day they file to become official Presidential Candidates in the 2012 Elections. These commitments and disclosures are the minimum qualifications to be a serious Presidential Candidate in Ghana after huge scandals such as the Woyome affair.

We call on all Ghanaians to join the PPP’s crusade for Incorruptible Leadership and vote for the PPP to save our nation from this conspiracy of the elite to defraud the state by looting it's resources.

Awake Ghana!

Kofi Asamoah-Siaw

National Secretary