President Akufo-Addo says he expects attempts by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to tag his government with corruption to get worse.
“Clearly, it is the pattern of the opposition. Throw these accusations in the air, when they are debunked we don’t hear anything about it and they just moved to the next allegation. That’s what we have seen,” he said Wednesday during his second encounter with the media in 2018 at the Jubilee House in Accra.
“The allegations are made, they are found to be empty, we just moved on and fabricate the next one and it will go on and it is going to get worse. 2019, a year to the election and these people are so desperate, it is going to get worse. The fabrications will continue and continue,” he stressed.
The President’s comments come on the back of allegations by the Minority in Parliament that the government bought a property in Oslo, Norway for use as Ghana’s embassy at an inflated price.
According to the Minority, the 100-year-old building was bought at a staggering $12.1million instead of $3.5million.
The foreign affairs ministry, however, disputed the Minority’s claim. The building in question it said in a statement was yet to be purchased.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not signed any agreement to purchase the said properties; that is the Chancery and the Ambassador’s Residence,” the Statement said.
But the Minority insists the building had been purchased with its spokesperson on Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa saying at a news conference Tuesday: “I don’t believe that the seller is Father Christmas. So, we want to see the response. Maybe the seller is so forgiving that he will say ok we have forgiven you, we walk out and go and see no more. We will not charge you for all the cost incurred.”
He further stated on Morning Starr Wednesday that they are contemplating on petitioning the Special Prosecutor’s Office or CHRAJ for a probe to be instituted in what the Minority believe was a shady transaction.
He said the desire to approach the Special prosecutor stemmed from the fact that parliamentary probes in recent times had been watered down by the majority in the house with their numbers.
“We may give our evidence to CHRAJ, or the special prosecutor to investigate. We haven’t accused anyone, we are not interested in personalities it’s just the principle.
“Cash for seat probe and other issues have not given us confidence in the parliamentary probe, the majority often take advantage of their numbers,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
