Rejoinder: NDC MP to face OSP over corruption allegations

Our attention has been drawn to a recent press conference which was held by a group of NPP folks at the NPP party office at Drobo on the 26^th of February 2023.

The said release was captioned “creation of special purpose vehicle by the member of parliament for Jaman South Constituency and his collaborators to milk the constituency as orphan milking cow.”

Read More: NDC MP to face OSP over corruption allegations
After perusing the said press conference, we humbly ask the good people of Jaman South to treat it with the contempt it deserves because it is full of falsehood, deception, and propaganda and was orchestrated by an allied group of the Former MP for Jaman South, Hon.Yaw Afful and the MCE, Mr. Andrews Bediako and their cohorts.

We will like to draw the attention of the general public to take note of the following:

1. The organizers of the press conference maliciously composed it not to only tarnish the image of the hard-working current MP, Hon. Williams Okofo-Dateh but also to incite the constituents against him as tactics to recapture the parliamentary seat from the NDC. [Attached is one of their leaked audios as evidence]

2. It will interest you to know that the letter-head which was used to publish the said press release has two inscriptions at the bottom of the second page (last page) in quote “NPP: Development in Freedom / Donated: Yaw (Maama) Afful (USA)”. The said name on the letter-head [herein as Yaw (Maama) Afful (USA)] is the former MP for Jaman South constituency. The said organizers including the spokesperson of the former MP, currently the P.R. O for GES Jaman South in tandem with the MCE have been organizing programmes on Jaman Radio [a radio station owned by the former MP] which aims at tarnishing the hard-earned reputation of the current MP, Hon.Williams Okofo-Dateh.

3. It is instructive to note that, he who preaches equity must come with clean hands, it is therefore ridiculously strange that the organizers of the said press conference who are known individuals with credibility issues and have been entangled with several issues of corruption, fraud, thievery and scam will have the audacity to make such frivolous and baseless allegations against such an astute Member of Parliament.

Having established the above facts, we will like to lay bare the facts based on the assertions they made in their press release and call on the media and well-meaning constituents to serve as referees in those matters:

1. The allegation that the MP has taken huge sum of money to procure 1200 bags of cement and 20 trips of sand to construct classroom block at Anunkunano and only 1200 blocks have been moulded is palpable falsehood. It is a known fact that the MCE and this same group of people have stated at Jaman Radio and other social media platforms on numerous occasions that 50 blocks have been molded. They later change the number to 300 blocks but in this current press release, the number has metamorphosed into 1200 blocks. Surprisingly the self-proclaimed Communication Director of the NPP who is a signatory to this press release told the media during his narration that 600 bags of cement were procured for the said project which contradicts what they wrote in paragraph 3 of their own release. This shows the kind of distrustful people behind this atrocious plan. The fact is that, the MP decided to help the said community with building materials for the said project but upon a second thought he realized the community did not have the muscles to execute that project. He then decided to lead the community to put up a six-unit classroom block. As it stands now, a total of 3045 blocks have been molded and preparations are far advanced to continue the project.

2. The allegation that the MP took Sixty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GhȻ60,000) from his share of the Social Intervention Fund (SIF) to organize a football competition is a fabrication intended to defame the humble and hardworking MP, Hon. Okofo-Dateh. We challenge the accusers to provide evidence to substantiate their claim because he who alleges must prove.

3. The allegation that the MP took over Seventy Thousand Ghana Cedis from his share of the Common Fund to purchase food items for the vulnerable for the 2021 Christmas is a blatant lie that flies in the face of logic. Such an amount of money was never used to purchase food items for the 2021 Christmas season. It is a matter public knowledge that the MCE, who is the brain behind this press release, approves all memos submitted to the Assembly from the office of the MP. We therefore call on him to adduce evidence to this heinous allegation.

4. The allegation that part of the money meant to be donated to Miremaano Islamic Primary School was pocketed by the MP’s personal assistant is also a calculated lie. With respect to that matter, the MP decided to support the said School with building materials including Cement and Sand. In the absence of the MP, his team visited the community (Miremano) with the media and made a Cash donation of GhȻ12,000 in the presence of the chiefs and the town folks. During the presentation, we made it known that the MP is donating the said amount for the School to start the project and will visit them to inspect the progress of work done and subsequently provide another support for completion of the project. The big question is “who in his right senses will move with the media to do a presentation at the full glare of community members knowing very well that he has something to hide? Common sense should have told the organizers of this press release to consult the MP if they doubted any move by his aide instead of making noise around.

5. They emphatically stated that they have invoices and receipts to show that all monies in question were duly paid to the Hon.MP. It is a matter of public records that monies meant for MP’s projects are never paid in the name of the MP but to companies, suppliers or merchants who operate within the GIFMIS system. The MP is not also a signatory to any account to-or-from which his funds are released or disbursed for the purpose of executing any project. Is it not absurd for sound minded individuals to make such ridiculous, unfounded claim?

For purpose of clarity, we know as a matter of fact that, all the allegations leveled in their release have been aimed at tarnishing the image of the hard-working current MP, HON WILLIAMS OKOFO-DATEH.

We will like to assure the general public that Hon.Williams Okofo-Dateh will continue to be incorruptible, sincere, amiable, genial and stay focused to work assiduously in his quest to seek development for the good people of Jaman South Constituency.

We therefore by this notice inform the general public to consider the content of their press release as contemptuous, preposterous, unethical, and misleading and as insult to the intelligence of the good people of Jaman South,

We humbly advise the said group in tandem with the MCE to apologize to the good people of Jaman South for peddling falsehood and desist from such evil agenda because all the religious literature make it clear that a lying tongue is an abomination unto the Almighty GOD.

Cc;
All media houses
…… signed…….

ARPHUL ADU STEPHEN
SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MP, JAMAN SOUTH
0201019040
2^nd March 2023