NPP Condemns Arrest Of O.B. Amoah,Boycotts Parliament
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the arrest of their colleague, O. B Amoah, over the controversial Woyome judgement debt scandal.
According to the party, it is part of government’s attempt to smear them by implicating some of their members in the ongoing scandal.
The former Deputy Minister for Education and Sports under the Kufuor administration was picked up by the personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service on Sunday evening over the scandal.
He has been charged with corruption and willfully causing financial loss to the State, resulting from some actions of his during the award of contracts to Waterville Holdings for the rehabilitation of the Accra, Kumasi and Elwak sports stadia.
Reacting to the development on a local radio station in Accra, this morning, the Communication Director of the NPP, Nana Akomea said the arrest was only a ruse by the NDC to involve the NPP in the matter and draw attention away from the substantive issues in the “criminal payment of our money to Woyome”.
He added that the arrest of the Member of Parliament for Aburi-Nsawam Constituency was totally unnecessary considering that his solicitors, just like those of Betty Mould Iddrisu, had written to the police assuring them of his willingness to assist with the probe into the matter.
The police are also looking into some cheque amount of GHC 75 000 given to O.B. Amoah by Mr Woyome in 2011.
But Nana Akomea questions how that might have influenced the payments to Mr Woyome, saying if the last arrest was any precedence to go by, then the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould Iddrisu, who authorized the unlawful payments and the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, who defied the President’s directive to hold the payment and went on to pay the money should be arrested.
Since it is clear their actions led directly to the financial loss to the State, he argued.
Boycott Parliament
Meanwhile, the minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs have boycotted a meeting in Parliament today between the House and a delegation from the United Kingdom following the arrest of their colleague O. B Amoah over the weekend.
The NPP MPs have also served notice that they may be boycotting parliamentary proceedings outright after an emergency meeting later today.
Hon. Dominic Ntiwul, a Member of Parliament for Bimbila told a local radio station this morning. He said the move to shun the oversight and scrutiny committee work between Ghanaian MPs and their UK colleagues was to show solidarity with their collegue.
Hon. Ntiwul indicated that the arrest of Hon. Amoah is in contravention of Article 117 and 112 of the 1992 Constitution.
He also added that the minority may be heading to the Police headquarters in solidarity with their colleague who was picked up on Sunday for his alleged involvement in the Woyome judgment debt scandal.
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