Professor Ransford Van Gyampo, a Political Science Lecturer at the University of Ghana has vehemently criticized the government’s handling of the prosecution of Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, over the controversial ambulance procurement saga.
In a scathing critique, Professor Gyampo did not hold back, reiterating his earlier assertions about the incompetence and malevolence of the current administration.
He highlighted the lost opportunity for Ghana to recover a significant financial loss, chastising the Attorney General over his fixation on wanting to jail the Minority Leader for mere political scores.
According to Professor Gyampo, Big Sea, the company involved in the importation of the ambulances wanted to pay the country 2.3 million Euros to settle the “so-called charge” of Dr Ato Forson causing financial loss to the state in the Ambulance procurement saga.
However, Professor Gyampo pointed out that the government, particularly the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame chose to go the path of “witch-hunting”, refusing to collect the money that was being offered to help defray whatever losses the country may have incurred.
He described the Attorney General’s conduct as politics of vendetta and the inordinate desire to punish the minority leader for being a thorn in the flesh of the current regime, by merely demanding accountability.
The renowned Political Scientist vehemently criticized the government’s decision, which he believes was driven by spite rather than the best interests of the country.
” Now that Ato Forson and Jakpa have been acquitted and discharged, the state gets nothing. We have lost the 2.3 million Euros that was being offered to us and the two have also been set free. Now, who has caused financial loss to the state?
“Isn’t it right for one to insist we are being governed by very ignorant people? I repeat my adage ‘When a bad mind enters into a mouse’s head, it falls into red oil’, as in, ‘s3 adwen bone ba ekura trim a, )t) ngo mu’”.
Professor Ransford Van Gyampo, Political Science Lecturer, University of Ghana
Current NPP Government’s Worst in Ghana’s Fourth Republic
Reflecting on the broader state of governance, Professor Ransford Van Gyampo reiterated his view that the current regime is the worst in the history of the country’s Fourth Republic.
He pointed out that all the statistics and indices for measuring good governance, fighting corruption, managing the economy, dealing with the media, etc., are there for everyone to go read and compare, urging the public to look at the sheer evidence of the current government’s failings.
In a hearty commendation, Professor Gyampo praised the judges involved in the case for their integrity.
He called on the Almighty God to bless them for showing fidelity to the laws of Ghana, and for giving the country a glimpse of hope that some judges can still be described as the conscience of the country.
He eulogized the judiciary’s role in upholding justice despite the political pressures surrounding the Ambulance trial.
The acquittal of Dr. Ato Forson and the subsequent implications have sparked widespread debate. Critics argue that the government’s approach not only failed to achieve justice but also cost the country financially.
The Court of Appeal, in a landmark decision acquitted and discharged Honorable Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam Constituency in the high-profile ambulance trial.
The court’s ruling sets aside the previous order from the trial court that required Dr. Ato Forson to open his defense, effectively upholding his submission of no case. Businessman Richard Jakpa, the third accused in the Ambulance trial was also freed by the Appeal Court.
Dr. Forson, a former Deputy Minister of Finance under the erstwhile Mahama’s administration was embroiled in a legal battle over allegations of causing financial loss to the state related to the procurement of ambulances during his tenure as Deputy Finance Minister.
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