General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, affectionately called General Mosquito has dared the leadership of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to still insist that its party members will not co-operate with the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) conducting investigations into the Woyome saga, and subject themselves to arrest since like any other state institution, the EOCO has power of arrest.
General mosquito warned that if their political opponents think the NDC is shamed by the Woyome saga and therefore cannot speak on the matter, then they better be prepared for what is in store for them.
�Tell the Sir John, Jake and its members that we are now awake to face them,� he said on AsempaFM.
The NPP, on Tuesday, told its members not to respond to any invitation from the EOCO. Chairman of the party, Jake Obetsebi Lamptey issued a statement indicating that the NPP would rather lean towards the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament investigating the issue than the EOCO.
President John Evans Atta Mills, a couple of weeks ago, directed the EOCO to investigate circumstances that led to the payment of over GHS58 million judgment debt to a staunch member of the ruling NDC, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, and to also probe into how the nation came to incur similar judgment debts.
This position taken by the NPP, according to Mr Obetsebi Lamptey, is based on the alleged complicity of President Mills in the Woyome scandal as well as the insistence to use EOCO in getting to the bottom of the issue, despite public calls for a better approach.
But the NDC Chief Scribe said the NPP should be thankful to their stars that President Mills ordered the EOCO to investigate circumstances surrounding the payment of that hefty amount of money to Alfred Woyome.
�If I were to be the NPP I would have gone to church to thank the lord for the call on the EOCO to investigate the Woyome saga because the truth would be exposed,� he said.
He slammed the NPP for its decision not to go before EOCO wondering why the party called for investigations in the first place if they were not ready to submit to its authority.
�The NPP said they wanted to get into the bottom of the Woyome saga so if the EOCO have been ordered to investigate it they must fully co-operate or face the wrath of the laws of Ghana�The NPP decided to make noise in the media because they think it will favour them the most but have now realized that they have waved serious controversy which will haunt them so have now chosen not to co-operate. I am calling on the EOCO to forcibly drag anybody who fails to co-operate,� he stated.
Dismissively, General Mosquito waved away concerns by the Minority in parliament that the EOCO is inferior to the Attorney General�s office and other government institutions in the Woyome saga and added that if the EOCO cannot be trusted then the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) cannot also be trusted because it is chaired by an opposition MP.
��See how intriguing it is to see people who are supposed to know better in the NPP organizing press conferences instead of helping EOCO. Who told them that the Economic and Organized Crime Unit is an alternative or in competition with the Public and Accounts Committee?...When matters about the head of the A-G pops up, the NPP has to call for the resignation of that person and not the dissolution of that institution. When the issue about the missing cocaine came up, why did the NPP call for the resignation of the IGP and not the dissolution of the police service?...If EOCO cannot investigate the issue because there will be a compromise, then calling for an independent investigation team will be meaningless�Does the NPP want president Mills to set aside an independent commission instead of EOCO to investigate the matter? Or is the NPP telling that because of the issue of compromise (of EOCO) and President Mills� alleged complicity, if the president sets up a body it will report to Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo or the president of Burkina Faso?� he quizzed.
Source: Chris Joe Quaicoe/Peacefmonline.com
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