Kwadwo Mpiani To Make Submission On Oct 23

Kwadwo Mpiani

The former Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Mr , could not make his submission before the Presidential Commission probing the activities of the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat yesterday.

This was due to the absence of a member of the commission, Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh, from the commission’s sitting yesterday.

Mr Prempeh had earlier sought permission from the chairman, Mr Justice Isaac Duose, to attend to some domestic issues.

Sitting was, therefore, adjourned to Friday, October 23, 2009. At exactly 9 a.m., Mr Mpiani and his counsel, as well as a number of New Patriotic Party (NPP) members, were seated at the Commission’s premises ready for the day’s proceedings to start.

Members of the Commission, led by the chairman, then entered the premises and took their seats after which Mr Justice Duose announced that Mr Prempeh had asked for permission to attend to some domestic needs and that he would be late.

The chairman of the Commission then asked that they wait for him for a while but after some time both the members of the commission and counsel for Mr Mpiani, Mr Egbert Faibille Junior, said since they could not tell when Mr Prempeh would arrive, it would be appropriate to adjourn sitting.

Both parties, after some consultations, adjourned sitting to Friday, October 23, 2009. The proceedings could not be adjourned to Tuesday and Wednesday, October 20 and 21 respectively because Mr Mpiani’s counsel told the Commission that his client had other engagements on those days.

Many Ghanaians who have been following the proceedings of the Commission with keen interest had waited in anticipation for Mr Mpiani’s submission.

The media turned out in their numbers with their cameras, positioned at vantage points ready for action but were disappointed when the news of the postponement was announced by the chairman of the Commission.

Mr Mpiani’s presence yesterday attracted many people because of the nature of the responses the former Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Ghana @ 50 Secretariat, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, gave to questions posed by members of the commission last Thursday.

Dr Wereko-Brobby shifted most of the pertinent questions posed to him by the Commission to Mr Mpiani.

He went further to tell the commission that the Ghana @ 50 was a baby of the National Planning Committee (NPC), which was chaired by Mr Mpiani. He said as the father of the secretariat, all pertinent questions should be posed to him (Mr Mpiani).

This answer did not go down well with the chairman of the commission, who asked Dr Wereko-Brobby why did he carry out the affairs of the secretariat to the contrary and entered into legal relations with corporate organisations, institutions and contractors by signing contracts with them if he knew that Ghana@50 was a baby, and that the NPC was the father.