Kufuor denies extramarital affairs with Gizele Yajzi

Former President J.A. Kufuor         Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has emphatically denied long-standing allegations that he had an affair with Ms Gizele Yajzi and fathered twins with her. The name of Ms Yajzi became a household name in 2005 when the Iraqi-American citizen burst onto the media scene with allegations, largely fanned by then opposition National Democratic Congress members, against the then President Kufuor. Prominent among Ms Yajzi's claims were that Mr Kufuor was the biological father of her twin boys and that he had also purchased the African Regent Hotel. But in an interaction with the media to mark the nine-year anniversary of the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law under his watch, the former president flatly denied all the allegations leveled against him. Joy News’ Araba Coomson who was at the meeting reports that Mr. Kufuor said none of the allegations were backed with fact and challenged those who claim to have evidence to come out with them. He said if he had indeed engaged in any extramarital affair with Ms Gizele Yajzi, he would have informed the wife, Mrs Theresa Kufuor, about the twins, seek forgiveness from her and go for the kids because they would have been “his blood”. Former President Kufuor also took time to rebut allegations of impropriety in the acquisition of the African Regent Hotel in Accra. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) had cleared the former President of any impropriety in his son’s acquisition of the hotel. During the media hullabaloo, Ms Yajzi had described herself as a former Economic Consultant to the then NPP government, but Mr. Kufuor in a similar encounter with the media years ago stated she "was never appointed in the Castle here". History Gizele Yajzi   He said the woman came to Ghana as an investor with connections in Spain and Kuwait and the then ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) decided to engage her services since she said she could gain access to the governments of Spain and Kuwait, the GNA reported on August 9, 2005. Mr Kufuor said the Government was eager to acquire a 120 million-dollar facility to provide canals for the Accra plains to modernise agricultural production and three million dollars to renovate the Peduase Lodge, one of the country's Presidential lodges, which was in ruins and also for the refurbishment of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. To facilitate the process, the then Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo gave her a letter introducing her as a Project Advisor to give her the credibility to negotiate for Ghana. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana