Supporters Of Quaye & Obetsebi-Lamptey Demonstrate

Five bus loads of people supposed to be supporters of Sheikh I. C. Quaye and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Minister designate for Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City have demonstrated at Parliament House in support of the two.
The demonstration is as a result of media reports that the two ministers would be among four nominees to be rejected by the Appointments Committee of Parliament. The Public Relations Officer of Parliament, Mr Jones Kugblenu, who addressed them said, their petition had been received and would be forwarded to the Appointments Committee. According to him, the Clerk of Parliament has received the petition and would do what has to be done. He thanked them for comportment and wished them well. After demonstrating at Parliament, the supporters went to Sheikh I. C. Quaye's house, where he thanked them for their gestures. According to Sheikh, the solidarity shown him is very touching and a testimony that his work is being appreciated by the people. The Public Relations Officer of the Council of Moslem Chiefs, Alhaji Baba Umaru, speaking to newsmen insisted that they had not been influenced by anyone to embark on the protest. Earlier in an interview Sheikh I. C. Quaye denied knowledge of the actions of his supporters. Quizzed on measures to furnish the Appointments Committee with his certificates, Sheikh I. C. Quaye said that was the business of those who petitioned the appointments committee. IC's SHOW OF FORCE FAMILY Members and thousands of supporters of the Greater Accra Regional Minister-Designate Hon. Sheikh I.C Quaye, yesterday morning stormed Parliament House to petition the Vetting Committee to forget about his alleged forged certificates on his CV and confirm his nomination. They had clearly been mobilized by the Sheikh, probably taking a cue from Isaac Edumadze, his colleague Minister-designate for the Central Region. Prominent among the large number of family members present was his biological brother Mohamed Quaye, Government appointee to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and a Director of MOHAS Trading Company, The 'Boola-man' (Boiler Man), and a number of his extended family members. The Greater Accra Regional Minister-designate had, during his vetting last Wednesday, been questioned about his brother's Solid Waste collection company, MOHAS Trading Company's, dealing with the AMA and if it did not amount to a conflict of interest. In all, there three petitions were presented to the Clerk of Parliament, Mr. K.T.K Takyi in the absence of the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Hon. Freddie Blay. The Petitioners were: Progressive Youth, Ayawaso Central (PYAC) signed by one Saaka Salia, Gospel Evangelical Crusades Ministry (GECM), signed by Reverend Kwarteng Amaning, and the Chief Imam of the Ayawaso Central. Presenting the petition, the spokesman of PYAC, Mr. Saaka Salia said, “It has come to our notice that the Hon. Sheikh I.C Quaye's good name has been dragged in the mud by such people, as a result we would want to register our anger and disgust through your good office to discard such infantile allegations, for they are baseless, unmeritorious and without substance.” Mr. Salia claimed that, “All those who know the history of the family of I.C Quaye would attest to the fact that the whole family house of the Hon. Minister designate was criminally vandalized and destroyed for expediency in a political vendetta led by the then Commissioner of Police, S.A. Amaning.”

He continued that those state-sponsored criminals took every member of the household hostage, including women and children, who were all remanded in prison custody for one week while Sheikh I.C Quaye was whisked into detention. He stated further that the destruction was so devastating that nothing could be retrieved from the rubble especially while Hon. I.C Quaye was dispatched to prison custody. Mr. Salia asserted that Hon. I.C.Quaye was an honest man who would not lay claim to something he never acquired, “However, people might have developed pathological hatred for noble personalities because of their achievements, thereby writing all sorts of obvious untruths loaded with innuendoes for the purposes of character assassination.” According to Mr. Salia, the competence of the Hon. Minister designate had never been in doubt, adding that he was a highly affable and visionary leader who operated an open-door policy. In this vein, Mr. Salia described the allegations as highly disgusting, wicked and malicious, and an attempt by some faceless detractors to throw dust into the eyes of the vetting committee and the public by their ingenious means of fabrications. Mr. Salia concluded that, “I am drumming home vehemently that the entire allegations leveled against Hon. I.C.Quaye were nothing but a premeditated scheme contrived with sickening venom, to disparage, ridicule, lower his esteem and totally damage his reputation built over the years in political and social life.” Speaking too, the Ministerial Director of GECM, Mr. Amaning, said his petition to the Clerk of Parliament maintained, “It is very discouraging and unfortunate on the part of the Appointments Committee to be using academic attainment as a measurement of qualification into political office.” He stated further that, The 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana states in “Chapter (10) Article 94 (1) {a} 'A person shall not be qualified to be a member of the Parliament unless - (a) he is a citizen of Ghana, has attained the age of twenty-one years and is a registered voter {b} he is a resident in the constituency for which he stands as a candidate for election to Parliament or has resided there for a total period of not less than five years out of ten years …' Reverend Amaning, therefore, on behalf of the members and Executive Council of The Gospel Evangelical Crusade Ministry, humbly petitioned the Chairman and Members of the Appointments Committee, to consider dropping the issue of Certificates that has arisen and generated much argument in the print and electronic media. Responding, The Clerk, Mr. Takyi told the petitioners that Parliament was an institution that belonged to everybody and that was why every constituency, was represented by a Member of Parliament (MP). He added that at the beginning of the vetting process, individuals and institutions were asked to present petitions against and for the Ministers-designates if they had any. He assured the Petitioners that their petitions would be delivered to the Chairman of the Vetting Committee, Hon. Freddie Blay for the necessary action to be taken. Hon. I.C. Quaye on his CV presented to the Appointments Committee, listed the educational certificates of Diploma in Management Studies and Diploma in Journalism, all acquired at the Cambridge School, through Distance Learning. At the vetting, Committee members demanded if he had the Certificates obtained, to support his CV, but his response was that his family house was flooded some years ago and the certificates got destroyed. He could therefore not provide them. A ranking member of the Committee, Hon. Alban Bagbin promised that they would take the matter up, a position concurred by the Committee Chairman, Hon. Freddie Blay, who added that they would take the matter up at the Committee stage.