I spent only 5 minutes with my gay accuser -Veep declares

Ghana's newly appointed Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, Monday dismissed allegations he is gay, explaining that he had not seen the man who had claimed to be his sexual partner in secondary school for about forty years and that he spent only five minutes with him the last time they met.

 
According to Mr Amissah Arthur, his alleged gay mate was at his residence to demand some money after he had given him some financial aid on a previous occasion.

 
The Vice President said he refused to offer his accuser another support because he was not enthused about his lifestyle, claiming it was his refusal to dole out money to his alleged gay partner that led to the plot to blackmail him.

 
While being vetted, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana told members of Parliament's Appointments Committee that the media reports suggesting he is gay were nothing but a fabrication of some disgruntled persons who tried in vain to extort money from him.

 
Sections of the media have been questioning the sexuality of Mr Amissah-Arthur, suggesting he is a homosexual.

 
The accusations which gained currency particularly in past week after his nomination as vice to president John Mahama was triggered off by a self-confessed gay who drove to the offices of the Daily Guide newspaper to make the claim.

 
After days of such publications, the vice presidential nominee broke his silence for the first time on an issue thought to be very controversial and he minced no words, when he appeared before the vetting committee to rubbish the allegation.

 
Member of Parliament for Bekwai, Joe Osei-Owusu, brought up the issue during the vetting and asked if the nominee cared to comment.

 
Amissah-Arthur did and was vehement in his denial.

 
He told committee members the libellous reports against him were masterminded by an old school mate who fell out with him after he (Amissah-Arthur) refused to give him money.

 
“It is not true, it is absolutely not true. I have not seen this gentleman for 40 something years. I saw him once just for about two minutes. He came to my house to ask for money and I gave him a little money and I have not seen him again.

 
“It absolutely cannot be true of the claims that are being made,” he stated.

 
He said it had been difficult to take legal action to clear his name because his accusers avoided mentioning his name but instead, resorted to innuendos.

 
He suspected his accusers were seeking to blackmail in order to extort some money from him but he insisted he would not give a dime to any miscreant wanting to take advantage of him.