Ghana@50 Cautions Newspapers

Raymond Archer

THE CHAIRMAN of the Commission of Inquiry probing the activities of Ghana@ 50 Secretariat, Justice Isaac Duose, has cautioned the Editor-In-Chief of the Inquirer Newspaper, , for pre-empting the work of the Commission in a publication that sought to injure the reputation of two key actors in the probe.

Justice Duose's warning followed a preliminary observation by Akoto Ampaw, Counsel for Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby, former Chief Executive of Ghana@ 50 Secretariat, that yesterday's edition of the Inquirer published a memorandum that had been sent to the Commission, trying to damn  his client and former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani.

He queried for the publication, emphasising that “he has no mandate to write reports for us. The report he has put out should be ignored with contempt”.

“We have our own opinion to make when it comes to the time for writing our report. For now, nobody is an accuser, nobody is a plaintiff,” Justice Duose cautioned.  

Mr. Ampaw had contented that the said memorandum had been leaked to the paper for publication although it had not been heard, suggesting a collusion between some people at the Commission and the Inquirer to subject Mpiani and Dr. Wereko-Brobby to public ridicule without interrogating the issues involved.

This assertion was however contested by the Chairman of the Commission, saying the memorandum could have been given to the Inquirer by its maker.

“The Inquirer is a politically bias newspaper and the highly prejudicial and sensational character of the publication seeks to damn Kwadwo Mpiani and Dr. Wereko-Brobby,” Mr. Ampaw pointed out, requesting for the protection of his client and the former Chief of Staff from prejudicial publications, in order to allow fairness in the probe.

He also indicated that a number of organizations and people who are sub-contractors had sent memoranda to appear before the Commission although Ghana@ 50 had no direct dealings with them, prompting the Chairman of the Commission to give the assurance that “when we reach the bridge, we would cross it”.

Later, Kwame Adu-Sarkodie, Chief Executive of Andrex Development Consultancy, and his team appeared before the Commission, claiming an amount of GH¢1.8million as money owed them by the National Planning Committee for the Ghana@ 50 celebration.

The amount, according to Mr. Adu-Sarkodie, was for the architectural design works for the construction of jubilee kindergarten and primary schools in all the 168 districts in the country, which was supposed to cost about GH¢59.8million.

He indicated that the projects were stalled because the former Chief of Staff wrote a letter stopping the construction of the schools, attributing it to lack of funds.

Mr. Adu-Sarkodie said there were a series of meetings among his company, the Ministry of Education, which was the user client; and the GETfund, the financier of the projects, with the aim of pushing for the building of the schools, but all to no avail until the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over power.

Subsequently, his company met with the Transition Team to look into the details of the projects, with the view to paying them for work done so far and also to start the construction of the schools as in his opinion, “they are very viable and with the new education policy, I think the projects should be carried out”.

“The Ministry of Education should look at the viability of the projects and complete despite the difficulties encountered,” Mr. Adu-Sarkodie suggested.

He could not however present to the Commission, any contract agreement between his company and the National Planning Committee for the Jubilee Celebration or any other body to warrant the payment of the colossal amount being demanded from the state.

According to him, it was the understanding that a formal agreement would be signed after the award of the contracts to contractors based on their designs.

During cross-examination, Mr. Akoto Ampaw suggested to Mr. Adu-Sarkodie that the projects were taken away from Ghana@ 50 after their conception and therefore could not be held liable for any liabilities.

By Awudu Mahama