…To Probe Or Not To Probe, The Debate Still Rages! (The Crusading GUIDE, December, 17 – 23, 1998)
The $5 million ‘bribery’ allegation leveled against the President, Ex. Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings by the late Sani Abacha’s Security Advisor, Ismalia Gwarzo, has undoubtedly stirred a lot of dust in this country.
Just last week, the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Justice D.F. Annan overruled a motion by opposition groups in the august House calling for debate to institute a probe to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegation.
However, upon a lengthy debate the issue was postponed to last Tuesday. And when the substantive motion came up on Tuesday, it suffered the same fate amidst acrimony and blows.
A couple of weeks ago, a panel comprising Mr. Kwame Karikari, former Director, School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon; Papa Owusu Ankomah, Ranking Member of Communications in Parliament and Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr., Publisher of the Weekly Insight, discussed the question of whether or not the allegation should be probed on a Groove FM programme dubbed HOTLINE, with Kweku Baako Jnr., Editor-in-Chief of The Crusading GUIDE as the host.
Contributing, Mr. Kwame Karikari said as a layman in the legal profession, he would not know the technical processes of investigation.
He referred to the investigation going on in Nigeria into the Gwarzo allegation and said if the Ghana government really wanted to clear the name of the President, it could send a team of legal observers to Nigeria.
Kwame Karikari proposed that the composition of the observer team could be one person from the government, a neutral person (“maybe from the Bar Association”). “They should be legal experts of stature whose findings and report will be credible and acceptable to everybody”.
He did not think setting up a certain kind of independent investigation in Ghana might be feasible.
Another alternative, he thought would be for the Ghana government to sue Gwarzo to explain what he means by that allegation.
Asked whether the Ghanaian Parliament has any business talking about the matter and calling for an enquiry, Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr., pointed out that since the issue is a cross-border one, no one government could deal with it.
“The people of Ghana are represented by Parliament. They have interest in establishing the fact in the case because the integrity and dignity of the office of the President have been brought into disrepute by the allegation”, he stressed.
He sided with Mr. Kwame Karikari that neither the Nigerian nor the Ghanaian government could handle the case alone. “And so I advocate the establishment of an independent international enquiry”.
Pratt noted, “There are many eminent citizens of Africa; there are many eminent citizens of even West Africa who may be charged with the responsibility of getting to the bottom of this matter, and who have sufficient credibility to enable them make findings which will be generally acceptable to the people”.
When he was given the opportunity to address himself to the matter, Papa Owusu Ankomah said constitutionally, when the President of the Republic of Ghana does something that is in conflict with the Constitution an impeachment proceeding could be started against him.
“But certainly for the NPP group, we are not dragging it from that angle. We think it should be by a bi-partisan approach; and we are not taking it from the point of view of lawyers because in that case Gwarzo could have said anything at all about anybody since his life is on line”, he quipped.
It was at this juncture that Mr. Ben Ephson, Editor of The Dispatch newspaper intervened to say he was worried about the Nigerian government’s silence over the allegation.
He said the Nigerian government should have informed the world that the allegation was not true and that investigations were going on.
But Kwame Karikari had a contrary view. “I don’t think it is fair to ask the Nigerian government to make a comment on an issue that is under investigation”.
Papa Owusu Ankomah shared the views of Pratt and Kwame Karikari, adding that the Nigerian Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar would want the world to know that he believed in upholding human rights and firmly committed to the cause of democracy in his country.
“Personally, I don’t think it will be prudent for the Nigerian government to make any comment whatsoever about whatever is going on because that may be interpreted to mean interfering with an ongoing investigation”, he declared.
Reacting to the shades of opinion expressed, Ben Ephson articulated, “I think the silence of the Nigerian government – that Nigerians should speak up – is even more legitimate than the proposal for them to probe in Parliament”.
He wondered where the probe would lead to if one person’s motion was going to ask the government to set it (probe) up.
Papa Owusu Ankomah intervened, “If Parliament of Ghana makes a formal request to the Nigerian government, certainly we’ll get a response because it is coming from a sovereign Parliament”.
Whereas the Minority group in Parliament and many other Ghanaians are pressing for a probe into the allegation, the Majority NDC Parliamentarians, government functionaries and party members are ill at ease with the proposal.
The reason is not far-fetched. As a respectable and dignifying Statesman who pleaded anonymity stated that, “They know that any serious Inquiry might unearth the truth about the whole matter and if it turns out to be true, it will be an unforgettable stigma on the Presidency and put to shame those who have been defending President Rawlings”.
Last week the Minority group stated unequivocally that if a debate on the need to set up an independent enquiry into the ‘bribery’ allegation hits the rock in Parliament, they would do all within their power to make sure that the right thing is done. They did not specify the details of their next move.
Meanwhile, grapevine indications show that the AFC is about to mount a campaign for a Probe into the matter.
They are billed to hold a Press Confab today at the Accra International Press Centre.
BLOWS IN PARLIAMENT
(The Crusading GUIDE, December, 17 – 23, 1998)
By Evelyn Abayaah
The Parliament of Ghana was thrown into a state of confusion for nearly 15 minutes when a Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Mike Acheampong, left his seat to assault a member of the Minority Hon. Adjei Acheampong allegedly because he had said something against Mr. Kwamena Ahwoi who was on his feet making a contribution on the alleged $5m debate.
Mr. Acheampong who is not a Parliamentarian was in the House to witness or contribute to the debate on a motion by Mr. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on the alleged five million-dollar bribe.
While the Speaker sat and watched unconcerned, the Deputy Minister crossed over from the Majority side to the Minority side to assault a member.
The Minority Leader, Mr. J.H. Mensah did not take kindly to this, so on point of order he said the House had come to a point where the tactics used to prevent the debate on the motion had gotten out of hands.
He said the Deputy Minister had shown a conduct that was improper; to threaten violence is contempt of Parliament.
Mr. J.H. Mensah moved a motion that the Speaker refer the matter to the Privilege Committee.
He underscored the fact that Ministers who are not Members of the House and as such they are only to help in the business of the House and not to come and fight.
The Speaker, to the utmost shock of everybody including those in the public gallery said he would not transfer a matter to the Privileges Committee because the Minority Leader has asked him to do so.
“I am not aware of any misconduct on the floor of this House”, he added.
This infuriated the Minority group and so they walked out. At the end of the day Hon. Owusu-Agyeman’s motion was killed by the Majority.
EDITORIAL
THE CRUSADING GUIDE’s DEC. 17 – 23, 1998
THE $5M “LAGOS BOMBSHELL”
…Rawlings Must Accept Probe Call If Indeed He Is Not ‘Bribable’!
If President Rawlings and his NDC propagandists think they have effectively put to rest the allegation that the late Sani Abacha offered him a $5m ‘bribe money’ via his Security Advisor, Ismalia Gwarzo, to help improve Nigeria’s image at the time of its International isolation, then they certainly are living in a fool’s paradise!
No amount of “NO ONE CAN BRIBE ME” headlines in the government controlled State-owned media or unparliamentary behaviour by Ministers, Dep. Ministers or MPs can help the beleagured Ex-Flt. Lt. wriggle himself out of the serious jam in which Gwarzo’s bombshell of an allegation appears to have put him and his NDC government.
The only serious and lasting way for Ex-Flt. Lt. Rawlings to prove his innocence in this matter is for him to accept the challenge of the Minority and entreat his NDC MPs of Parliament and the Speaker to allow the establishment of an independent enquiry into the allegation. It is never too late to reverse what happened in Parliament last Tuesday on the matter.
Mounting rally platforms in Sekondi and elsewhere and shouting insults and abuses at so-called “enemies” for articulating the need to probe the allegation is not going to help President Rawlings in any positive, material way. The stigma of the bribery allegation will continue to stick on him, his party and government, and unfortunately the entire nation for a very long time to come!
There must be something basically wrong with the mode of thinking of our President and his immediate advisors. If indeed Rawlings is not bribable as he wants us to believe, then why are he and his men and women in Parliament scared of allowing an independent enquiry into the allegation?
We were expecting President Rawlings to have entreated the Speaker of Parliament and his Majority MPs to accept the challenge of the Minority to allow Hon. Owusu Agyeman’s motion to stand. Indeed the President would have attained a psychological and strategic advantage if he had used the Tanokrom rally to accept that challenge instead of the incoherent, indecisive and feeble posturing he put up there!
It is amazing that there are people in this country who cannot see that President Rawlings and his men and women are not handling the Gwarzo allegation in a serious, responsible and professional manner. Shouting that the allegation is ‘utter rubbish’, ‘absolute nonsense’ ‘silly’ etc, is not the way-out of the mess confronting him and the Nation on this very grave issue. Or is it?
President Rawlings should not forget that his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Victor Gbeho had told Ghanaians that the Ghana Government had initiated action to seek verification of the allegation. It is almost 6 weeks or more since that statement, and Ghanaians are still waiting to hear of the outcome of that ‘verification mission’.
What did the Nigerian authorities tell Victor Gbeho’s emissaries and don’t we as Ghanaians have the right to be told what the Ghanaian side was told by the Nigerians?
Again, isn’t it about time President Rawlings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NDC government tell us in very simple language whether or not Ismalia Gwarzo was ever in the country as a guest of the Ghanaian government during Abacha’s reign?
Did Gwarzo visit Ghana, how many times did he if he did, who did he meet and where and what for? These questions can and must be answered by Ghanaian authorities. Parliament wouldn’t need any protocol assistance from our Nigerian brothers and sisters to have answers to the preceding questions? Or would it?
Gwarzo came to Ghana by a plane; he was met at the airport by a Ghanaian side; he was driven to the Air Force Station by somebody; he reportedly met the President at the Station and they proceeded to the Castle where the ‘money palaver’ transpired. It is alleged that Gwarzo was accompanied by a Senior Nigerian military officer who has already corroborated his story. It is also alleged that Dr. Chambas and Mr. Blavo were the Ghanaian eye-witnesses to the transaction.
Dr. Chambas has dismissed the story as untrue and preposterous. Mr. Blavo is in far-away Paris and has not had the opportunity to either confirm or deny his alleged role in the whole saga.
Yes, our principled position as at this material moment is that we are presently inclined to give the President and his colleagues the benefit of the doubt but that does not mean there should be no national effort to dig into the bottom of the matter and set the records straight. After all the allegation affects not only the integrity of President Rawlings but that of the entire nation as well.
Interestingly, President Rawlings in defending himself and “denying” the allegation at the Tanokrom rally, referred to the attempts to ‘smear’ US President Bill Clinton. Has President Rawlings so soon forgotten that Mr. Clinton stoutly denied any wrong doing before confessing the truth many months later? The Clinton reference did not help his cause and will not help him. He should forget about that.
There must be a PROBE into the $5m allegation. If it doesn’t happen today, it will happen tomorrow, one fine day in Ghanaian history. Mark our words!
Stay tuned for more on the Gwarzo allegation. We ain’t finished with it yet!
$5 Million Bribery Scandal …
CP CALLS FOR REVIEW OF SPEAKER’s RULING
(The Crusading GUIDE, December 17 – 23, 1998)
By Sedi Bansah
The Speaker of Parliament, Justice D.F. Annan’s ruling on the alleged $5m million scandal that has rocked the Ghanaian President, Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings has been met with general indignation and disapproval.
One group of the public that has expressed great shock at the Speaker’s ruling is the Convention Party (CP).
The CP is convinced that Justice Annan’s ruling has closed the only door to unearthing the truth in an allegation that puts the reputation of the country at stake.
It declared that mere denials by the President and leading members of his government were insufficient to sustain his integrity, the honour and dignity of his office and that of the people of Ghana.
The CP therefore, in a press release signed by its Chairman of the Publicity Committee, Mr. Mike Eghan, called on all and sundry in Parliament, irrespective of party affiliation to press for a review of the Speaker’s ruling in the interest of the preservation of the honour and integrity of the President, the Presidency and the people of Ghana.
The Party maintained that it would continue to use all legitimate and legal means available to press for the establishment of the truth in the matter so as to help Ghanaians make their own decision.
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