The spate of invitations to former public and political holders to report to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has not abated, with the latest being the immediate past Deputy High Commissioner to India who has been asked to report to the security outfit today at 11am.
Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong had a call from an unknown person who told him that he was wanted by the Director of the BNI.
Being unable to tap enough details from the call, he telephoned the number, seeking to speak to the Director.
He was asked to wait a while and within thirty minutes or so, the call came and he was told that his invitation had to do with some rice imports into the country.
He told DAILY GUIDE, when contacted, that he arrived from a visit to his farm in the Ejura area in the Ashanti Region yesterday at about 3pm and received a call from an unknown voice which stated that the BNI Director would want to see him.
Mr. Ampratwum Sarpong, who is the Executive Director of the Ghana-India Business Network, was later told that the invitation had to do with the controversial rice import over which the former Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Akwasi Osei Adjei, had his passport seized by the BNI under instructions from above.
The minister's pleading with the Indian government to waive a ban of food exports so Ghana could import rice from that country enabled a reversal of the policy.
This became a subject for the security organisation to delve into, as ordered from above, according to the BNI.
The former minister found his invitation awkward, considering the fact that as he put it, “the previous government only facilitated the rice import into the country”.
He was unable to confirm whether the amount involved was $10 million because government did not make a direct financial investment in the import.
If government was involved to that extent, payment would have been made through the Bank of Ghana and not through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The India mission in the country expressed worry about the development which appeared to suggest that their country's good gesture was being twisted to give it a touch of malfeasance.
By A.R. Gomda
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