Amidu hangs Okudzeto

By Emmanuel Akli

The perception that the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa has taken over the roles of substantive Ministers posted to the Ministry of Information, making almost all of them redundant, was re-echoed by the former Attorney General

and Minister of Justice, Martin Amidu, on Oman FM in Accra yesterday, where he accused the vociferous Deputy Minister of usurping the powers of his Ministers.

“Ablakwa has overgrown his wings. Due to such actions of his, he undermined the authority of his former Minister, John Tia Akologo, rendering him (Tia) virtually useless,” he said.

Since President Mills assumed office as President of Ghana in 2009, he has appointed three Ministers to man the Information Ministry. They are Zita Okaikoi, John Tia Akologo and now Fritz Baffour, but the voice of the Deputy Minister overshadowed these Ministers, with him even signing a statement emanating from the presidency.
As a result of this deafening voice, two of the Ministers -Zita and Akologo – were booted out after spending a little over a year in office. The current Minister, tall and bulky Fritz Baffour, also seems to have remained quiet on a number of national issues, with the young Okudzeto-Ablakwa still running the show.
One of the new lawyers called to the bar, Mr. James Agyenim Boateng, was first appointed Deputy Minister at the Information Ministry, but was reshuffled and sent to the Tourism Ministry. He was recently brought back to the Ministry.
Another tough talking Deputy Minister, Baba Jamal, was also reshuffled from the same Information Ministry, leaving Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who has remained seemingly untouchable.
But, whether Mr. Baffour and James Agyenim Boateng would remain at the Ministry or not, is not known.
Mr. Martin Amidu, however, thinks the young Okudzeto-Ablakwa had overshot his bounds, and must be reined in.
According to the former Minister, whilst in office as Attorney General (A-G) and Minister of Justice, he had a call from Okudzeto-Ablakwa, asking him to pay judgment debt to a Spanish company, ISOFOTON, when he was already in court fighting the same company over the claim it had made against the government.
Amidu noted that he was dumbfounded by the conduct of Mr. Okudzeto, because as a Deputy Minister he had no powers to pick a telephone and ask him, the government solicitor, to pay a judgment debt to an individual or company.
He argued that if there should be any call at all, it should come from the sector Minister, who was then Mr. John Tia Akologo, and not Okudzeto-Ablakwa.
He further elaborated that even if the Minister was not around, Okudzeto-Ablakwa should have waited for him to come and receive the letter, after which the letter could take the necessary steps to pass it on to the A-G’s office.
The government is still in court over the ISOFOTON $1.3 million judgment debt, which Okuzdeto-Ablakwa is currently at the forefront fighting over it.
Reacting to the allegation made against him by the former A-G on Joy FM yesterday, the Deputy Minister admitted that he called the ex Minister in connection with the payment for ISOFOTON, but argued that the decision was based on a petition he received from the lawyers of the Spanish company, over the refusal of the A-G to pay them.
When asked why he should be the person to receive such a petition when the substantive Minister was around, Okudzeto-Ablakwa struggled to tell the interviewer that at the time the petition was brought to the Ministry, his Minister was not around, so it was handed over to him.
Okudzeto-Ablakwa could not properly explain why he could not wait for his Minister to arrive from his travel, since the petition was personally addressed to him (substantive Minister), but he decided to take it upon himself to call the A-G, suggesting that the money being demanded should be paid to the company.
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