<<Print>>

The NPP Minority in Parliament are scheduled to meet with former President J. A. Kufour in the next few days. The motive of the meeting is for the minority to find out the rational behind the former President 's attendance and presence at the official re-branding of Universal Merchant Bank a couple of days ago. This was revealed by the Minority leader of parliament, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, MP for Suame constituency, in an interview with HELLO FM on Wednesday. Prior to the take-over of Merchant Bank's 90 percent shares by Fortiz for GHC 90 million, members of the NPP stridently questioned why government could turn down bids from multinational companies which offered a higher sum for a lower percentage shares. The sale of the bank developed into a running debate and majority of NPP MP�s openly voiced their opinion. They raised several points but their centralized message was that the sale of Merchant Bank to Private Equity Fund, Fortiz, was simply a fraudulent deal. The issue however took a new twist when Mr Kufuor and former Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani graced the official re-branding exercise of Merchant Bank. Some members of the NPP have described the move by their former leader and his Chief of Staff as an act of betrayal. The minority leader explained that he was in Tamale on a working visit during the launch so did not know what transpired, until he got to Accra to hear that Former President Kufuor and his Chief of staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani were present at the function. "You know the stance of the minority when its comes to the sale of Merchant Bank and for that matter, we were a little bit surprised about Kufuor's involvement in their activities...In fact we will come out officially on the matter..." "...When the Minority boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of President Mahama due to our court case (NPP's Election Petition), the former President was there so we will not want to put the cart before the horse, we shall meet him as soon as possible to question his presence at the launch," he added.