NDC Flakes Pres Over Corruption

THE National Democratic Congress (NDC) has berated the President for claiming that all instances of corruption under his watch have been investigated and his appointees cleared because no evidence was found against them.

Speaking as a panellist on, 'Championing investments: Presidential investment chats' at the just ended Africa Investment Forum, in Johannesburg, South Africa, last week, President Nana Akufo-Addo said all allegations levelled against his appointees have been investigated by independent institutions clothed with the powers to do so.

"If members of my administration are indulging in corrupt acts, any time an allegation is made, I have seen to it that it is investigated.

"So far, investigations have not yielded any evidence [against appointees indulging in corruption], but it is important that it is known that people of my administration will be subject to scrutiny if they go off schedule," President Akufo-Addo stated.

But the NDC in a statement signed by its National Organiser, Kofi Adams, said the President's claims were deceitful and breath-taking because they underscored the President's preference for defending "corrupt acts of his appointees over punishment of same".

"No government in the annals of the Fourth Republic has been dogged by corruption scandals with the rapidity that they have occurred under, President Akufo-Addo. In the two years that he has been at the helm, Ghanaians have struggled to keep pace with the sheer number of corruption scandals that have broken out. Indeed, corruption is epidemic under President Akufo-Addo," the Minority claimed.

According to the party, the President set the ball rolling for corruption in his government by appointing "inordinately" large number of ministers.

It catalogued the botched AMERI Novation deal, the GH?23 million premix fuel diversion saga, the Australia visa racketeering debacle, the US$2.25 billion bond case, the BOST, Cash-for-Seat, amongst others as some of the of the unresolved corruption allegations under President Akufo-Addo.

On the AMERI deal which cost the former Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko his job, the opposition party said after giving executive approval to the "fraudulent deal", the President failed to institute investigation into the matter to ascertain how and who conspired to inflate the cost of the deal from US$510 million to US$I billion.

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