The Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC, Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, has backed the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s investigation and subsequent arrest warrant for former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, emphasizing that no one is above being investigated.
This came after the Special Prosecutor’s declared hunt for the former Finance Minister was described by the NPP as intimidation tactics by the current government.
“What has happened to Ken? Has anybody touched him? Has anybody done anything to him? So what exactly is intimidating here?”
Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC
Tamakloe was baffled at the report by the minority leader in Parliament, Hon. Afenyo Markins, of the Special Prosecutor’s investigation causing “trauma”, and “down-spiritedness” to Ken Ofori-Atta who was in the US.
He expressed doubt at the supposed ill health of the former Finance Minister and went ahead to reveal that Ken Ofori Atta was the one who “instigated the prosecution and investigation of Ato Forson” in the ambulance procurement case.
He backed his revelation with calls for people to review the Richard “Jakpa tapes”, which holds further evidence of everything Ken Ofori-Atta had planned to do to Ato Forson under President Akuffo Addo’s regime.
“Look, do you know what we’ve survived under Akuffo Addo?” he asked, referring to the ordeal that himself and his client, current Finance Minister, Ato Forson, have been through in the legal system under the auspices of the previous government.
Tamakloe cried foul at the way the Judiciary and the legal system was exploited and abused by the powers that were, towards vindictive and unrighteous ends, against someone as patriotic and upstanding as Ato Forson.
“You have a situation where a government conspired that at all cost, they were going to convict him to prove a point. You know the extent that the then Attorney-General Godfred Yeboah Dame could go just to get a conviction”.
“Look, today, we are talking about somebody being sick. My own client under Akuffo Addo, who had gone through dialysis for nineteen years, was put in prison under Akuffo Addo’s watch. What are we talking about? What the hell are we talking about?”
Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC
Tamakloe explained that, compared to what people endured under the nepotic government of former President Nana Akuffo Addo, which he described as “hell”, the NPP’s feelings about the apolitical work of the Special Prosecutor is negligible.
“Hell”, according to Tamakloe was the weaponizing of “investigation and criminal prosecution” against people that the former administration didn’t like and he hoped it never again repeats itself.
“In fact, they should be lucky that they have a forward looking President like John Mahama. They should be lucky. Yes. That is a man who appreciates the requirement of due process – if you’ve committed an offense, so be it”.
“But to use the institutions of state, to intimidate his political opponents, John Mahama with his experience with governance has gone beyond that. They should be lucky”
Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC
Tamakloe said that the Special Prosecutor stopping Ken Ofori-Atta from traveling abroad for medical care, would have infringed on the due process requirement that he was entitled to, since the investigation had not yet gotten to the point where he was wanted, and the OSP does not have “clairvoyance?”
The invitation by the Special Prosecutor now, should not meet with anything but collaboration on the part of the wanted. “Every citizen of this country has the benefit of due process requirements, that extends to mister Ken Ofori-Atta and any other person” he added
However, reactions of the NPP to the position and verdict that the special prosecutor has taken thus far seem to suggest that Ken Ofori-Atta is a “special breed”.
“What exactly is the issue?” Tamakloe asked, trying to ascertain if it was the mere investigation of the former Finance Minister that rattled people or the declaration that he is now a fugitive of the law?
He referenced the petition former President Nana Akuffo Addo “wrote to the then Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu to investigate” former President John Dramani Mahama after he assumed power in 2017.
President Mahama’s eventual investigation was a huge surprise since the succession of the Presidents in Ghana had never experienced a thing of its inkling. Tamakloe said “I never saw this” concerning that precedent.
Yet it happened at the behest of President Nana Akuffo Addo, and the then former President Mahama, as he himself has said, subjected himself and his family to the investigation.
“Who is Ken Ofori-Atta? Please, who is he in the overall scheme of affairs? If a former president of the republic can be investigated on the basis of a petition by Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo himself”
Lawyer Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, Director of Legal Affairs for the NDC
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