Hamza Suhuyini, a Lawyer and Member of the New Democratic Congress’ (NDC) communications team, has put forth an assessment of Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta’s elusiveness in engagements with the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), dubbing it a carefully planned “ruse” by Ghana’s former Finance Minister to escape accountability.
According to Suhuyini, things cannot continue in this fashion since the NDC government has a mandate to render full accountability and retrieval of state assets from corrupt past government officials.
“We would not be successful in any attempt to ensure accountability – and to let the Ghanaian people appreciate that we meant our words when we were in opposition if the likes of Ken Ofori-Atta are made to run away”
Hamza Suhuyini, NDC Communications Team Member
He accused the former Finance Minister of intentionally escaping the jaws of justice when he flew out of the country for medical treatment early on. He argued that “he knew to a very large extent that Ghanaians were looking for him because he destroyed lives.”
Suhuyini explained how Mr. Ofori-Atta’s policies killed people, collapsed business and plunged the country deep into an economic abyss. “His policies led us to a point where Ghana was locked out of the capital markets but at the back of all that, his companies were becoming more successful.”
He buttressed the unfair successes of Mr. Ofori-Atta’s businesses by highlighting the incredible growth of one of his insurance companies, which grew so big it penetrated the Nigerian Insurance sector and more or less dominated.
“His insurance company raised capital that Nigerian insurance companies were struggling to raise in about three months of entering the market.
“And all that happened largely because of his role as finance minister – and how he strategically decided to privilege his personal and business interest over and beyond that of the national objective and interest”
Hamza Suhuyini, NDC Communications Team Member
He called for more scrutiny into the past dealings of Ken Ofori-Atta and commended the Special Prosecutor (SP) Kissi Agyebeng for not relenting on the probe. He asserted that it fell within the SP’s jurisdiction and urged the support of Ghanaians.
“Many of his colleagues are facing our investigative bodies,” he said, questioning why the former Finance Minister should be exempted from the ongoing anti-corruption investigations. For Suhuyini, the “drama” associated with Ofori-Atta’s Medical report from Mayo clinic should not be allowed to distract from the core of the issue.
“We don’t need an angel to descend from the heavens to tell us that it is a ruse to avoid accountability – the evidence is clear. When he fell sick as finance minister, we all saw the pictures.
“Every reasonable person – at that material moment, would have resigned from the position of Finance Minister. Did he resign to go and treat himself then?”
Hamza Suhuyini, NDC Communications Team Member
Though he did not claim the medical report to be a complete fabrication, Suhuyini insisted that it is not “evidence enough” for Ofori-Atta’s absence from the country. “Is he in such a state that he cannot travel into this country? Absolutely not.”
Responding to the NPP
On the objections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) over how Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta’s case is being handled, Hamza Suhuyini pointed to investigations carried out by the party’s government in Ghana’s recent past, and questioned the legitimacy of their concerns today.
“These are the same people who presided over the incarceration of Dr. William Tevi. Do you know the state of Dr. William Tevi, the former NCA boss as at the time he was facing our investigative bodies and subsequently the law courts?”
Hamza Suhuyini, NDC Communications Team Member
Suhuyini drew reference to Dr William Tevi’s end stage renal treatment while being dragged through the “wheels of accountability,” and dismissed the hypocritical nature of the NPP’s concerns.
He argued that a party did not find anything wrong with the way Dr. William Tevi was treated then, should be fine with the OSP taking all legal actions against Mr. Ofori-Atta today, regardless of his health condition.
Suhuyini further referenced the late Dr. Sylvester Anemana, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health who suffered a fate similar to Dr. William Tevi at the hands of the NPP government.
“Was he not unwell when they were dragging him to court on a daily basis? He used to appear not less than eight hours in court? Indeed, at one point, he was more or less, God forgive my language, a vegetable – but these guys did not spare him. They took him through our processes for not less than four or five years”
Hamza Suhuyini, NDC Communications Team Member
The legal practitioner urged the former Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to take a page from the books of these men, who despite their health conditions faced the laws of the land head on. He asked him to stop using his illness as an excuse. “Ken knows that there won’t be satisfaction in this country if he’s not called to account.”
In his closing remarks, Suhuyini charged those currently close to the former Finance Minister to remind him that “his cousin,” former President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo was no longer President, neither was he, Ken Ofori-Atta, Finance Minister still, or the NPP in power.
His point was simple: it was time for all former government officials who are persons of interest in any ongoing state investigation to face the laws of the land, without any special favours or exemptions.
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