Government must probe NPP for "chopping" Eurobond cash: Kweku Baako

Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako         The Editor-in-Chief of the New Crusading Guide, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has challenged the government to probe and sanction past officials believed to have squandered the Eurobond cash if there is evidence to that effect. The erstwhile Kufuor administration has been accused of squandering a $750 million it raised after it issued Ghana's first Eurobond in 2007, approved by Parliament. Various government officials have claimed the receipts were squandered, however the government has so far not announced any plan to deal with those past officials who allegedly squandered the money. Mr Kweku Baako is therefore drawing the attention of the government to the seriousness of the issue, saying “that’s criminality of the highest order and it is incumbent on this government … [to] interrogate [it], investigate it and make sure you sanction the perpetrators of that kind of crime.” He added that the issue “ought not to become a running propaganda battle in the media.” Kweku Baako who was speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Thursday, however doubted the ability of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to institute any such investigations because its communications outfit deliberately threw out "such lies" to discredit the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which he said is seen even by the NDC as an alternative government in waiting. “I don’t mind if newspapers and serial callers are engaged in [propaganda] … I only get worried when members of government, ministers of state, deputy ministers of state and top government functionaries also join that fray … because in your case you’re not entitled to do propaganda continuously, yours is to enforce the laws to ensure accountability …,” he noted. Kweku Baako assured that the government would get embarrassed again if it proceeds to court on this issue because the NDC is still wallowing in the kind of propaganda it used during the 2008 elections. He stated, “Those whole things they said about NPP ministers and president Kufuor and all the rest - [that they] have chopped left, right, centre, they believed those things they were saying whiles in opposition, they’ve come into government and they continue using those things and sometimes they end up in court with some of those cases only to get embarrassed in a very abysmal manner and I can predict that if they proceed in this direction relative to the Eurobonds, that’s the same thing that will happen to them.” Dr Omane Boamah, Deputy Minister for Science and Environment, contributing to the discussion, said the Finance Ministry is dealing with the issue and at the appropriate time investigations would be conducted. By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana