PNC leader denies making statement

‘I never returned materials to USA’

“We have not poached Kofi Asante”-Govt reacts

PNC leader denies making statement

Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2003 - Dr Edward Mahama, the leader of the Peoples’ National Convention (PNC) has denied ever making any statement to the effect that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has armed its agents with AK 47 rifles to cause mayhem during the recently-held by-election in Navrongo Central.

According to a statement issued by the Police Administration, Dr Mahama denied the statement when he was invited to the Police Headquarters to help the police ascertain the facts in the statement attributed to him in a publication by “The Evening News” on Monday 24 March 2003.

Dr Mahama told the police, according to the statement, that it was one of his supporters who telephoned from Navrongo to inform him that an NPP supporter had indicated, “if they do not win the by-election, he will use an AK 47 rifle to cause mayhem”.

The PNC leader said he only advised the caller to report the matter to the police and expressed surprise at the publication, adding, “it was the reporters who misrepresented him”.

According to the statement, Dr Mahama assured the IGP that he will always preach peace and impress upon his supporters to remain calm, even in the event of losing an election.

The statement said the Inspector-General of Police, Nana Owusu-Nsiah, used the occasion to urge politicians and the media to help ensure that their pronouncements do not disturb the peace in the country.

“Statements from politicians and the media wield enormous influence on their audience, hence the need for greater circumspection in order to avoid any rash actions by the public,” the IGP cautioned. – Daily Graphic

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‘I never returned materials to USA’

Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2003 - The President’s nominee for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court, Prof A. Kodzo Paaku Kludze, has denied ever returning to the United States of America (USA) a consignment of building materials he was purported to have shipped into the country for a school project at Gbi-Kpeme near Hohoe in the Volta Region.

He said he never received any building materials from any group in the US. Neither did he return any such materials to that country as is being alleged by the youth of Gbi-Kpeme. He described the allegation as “unfounded and a deliberate lie” only meant to tarnish his reputation.

Prof Kludze stated this when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting yesterday. The President for appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court in November nominated Prof Kludze, last year.

The Appointments Committee’s vetting, scheduled for 29 January this year, was called off following a petition against his nomination by the youth of Gbi-Kpeme. The committee, therefore, set up a five-member sub-committee, chaired by Captain (rtd) Nkrabeah Effah-Dartey, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, to look into the petition.

Throwing more light on the issue, Prof Kludze said he met a group of high school leaders in Philadelphia in 1978 who wanted to help the people of Gbi-Kpeme to build a school block.

He said despite the good intentions of the people, they could not support the project because of their inability to mobilise funds for the purpose and the idea was abandoned, adding, "I have since lost touch with them."

Asked by a member of the committee to explain why the group sent a plaque to the chief of the town indicating their support for the project, Prof. Kludze explained that the plaque was sent for site identification and to demonstrate the group’s preparedness to support the project.

Prof Kludze further stated that 11 years later, he made efforts to get potential donors at his own expense to support the project and he managed to get a donor who supported the project with an amount of $5,000, which he sent to the chief.

He also said after sending the money, he got the Rutgers University School of Law in the US, when he was a lecturer, to ship 14 computers for the school, after which he left for Britain in the year 2000. He said the issue of the alleged return of the building materials to the US first came up in 1999 and he denied having done such a thing, until it was resurrected in the form of a petition against his nomination.

In response to another question from a member of the committee, Prof Kludze, 69, said despite his age and the fact that he can serve for less than one year before he will be due for retirement, he considers the nomination an honour and an opportunity to serve the nation, explaining, “I am not accepting the appointment for remuneration or for monetary gains but rather to serve my nation to promote the judicial system.”

When asked to compare the Supreme Court of the US to that of Ghana, he said unlike what pertains in the country, the American Supreme Court has a fixed number of justices who sit at the same time.

He said he does not think that the President is packing the Supreme Court with the justices; rather there is the need to consider the volume of work and the need to speed up the administration of justice.

He indicated that since the President makes such nominations, on the advice of the Judicial Council, which is an independent body and in consultation with the Council of State, this offers a check on him. Prof Kludze was born in 1934 at Gbi-Kpeme. He was educated in law at the University of London and the University of Ghana, Legon.

He lectured in various universities in Ghana, Nigeria and the US and has five publications and 20 articles to his credit. In another development, the House has approved the appointment of the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Nana Kwadwo Seinti. This followed the adoption of the report of the Appointments Committee that vetted him.

The House also approved an amount of ¢550m for the services of the Office of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund Administrator, while an amount of ¢624.6bn was approved for the Ministry of the Interior. – Daily Graphic

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“We have not poached Kofi Asante”-Govt reacts

Accra (Greater Accra) 28 March 2003 – The Government has denied the allegation by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) that it influenced the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Amenfi West, Kofi Asante, to resign as MP by offering him a lucrative job.

It also described as falsehood, the assertion by the NDC that at the time of his resignation was announced, Mr Asante was in Abuja as a member of a government delegation to Nigeria. These were contained in a statement issued and signed by Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs in Accra.

It was in reaction to the claim by Rojo Mettle-Nunoo of the NDC that Asante’s resignation formed part of a grand design by the government to offer members of the NDC lucrative jobs in order to poach them. Obetsebi-Lamptey stated that Asante was not part of any government delegation to Abuja, Nigeria, saying that “indeed, there is no such delegation”.

“The government also rejects as a complete falsehood, the existence of any such “grand design” of the offer of any “lucrative” job to Asante as Mettle-Nunoo alleged”, he stated. The Minister reiterated the commitment of the government to multi-party democracy, underpinned by unity in diversity.

“It is equally committed to the policy of all-inclusiveness, which should not be misconstrued as a agenda to poach from the minority parties.” On Wednesday, Abraham Kofi Asante tendered in his resignation as a Member of Parliament that his reasons for the action were personal.

The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Freddie Blay, who presided, read the letter to the House. Asante, who was the Minority Spokesman on Energy, was not in the House. – The Ghanaian Times

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