NDC: The cat is out

Accra, Nov. 1, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday called on President John Agyekum Kufuor to initiate investigations into alleged corruption against government appointees and bring the perpetrators to book.

The Party said it felt vindicated with a recent publication in the "Ghanaian Times" when a Deputy Minister confirmed that District Chief Executives (DCEs) and other government officials were corrupt. A statement signed by Mr Bede Ziedeng, Acting General Secretary of the NDC, mentioned the Deputy Regional Minister of Brong Ahafo, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah as saying that DCEs were corrupt to the extent that they arranged with engineers to inflate project costs submitted by contractors.

The Party said: "We note that the Minister has made a part denial of the story, but the reporter maintains that he stands by the his story..."

It said over the years, the media, civil society organisations and political parties including the NDC had made allegations of corruption against government appointees calling on government to act, but the response had always been: "Bring out the evidence."

The NDC asked: "What better evidence can be provided than the statement attributed to the Deputy Regional Minister, a member of government?"

It said: "Now that the cat has come out of the bag, the NDC calls on the President to initiate investigative process into the alleged corruption and bring the perpetrators to book as a matter of urgency."

The NDC said it recalled the witch-hunt and the forensic audit conducted on the NDC appointed DCEs and other appointees, which yielded nothing and yet some of them particularly the former DCEs have not been paid their end of service benefits to date.

The Party also called on the Commission for Human Rights and Administration Justice to invite the Deputy Regional Minister to appear before it with his testimony.