After days of speculations that his voice was on a tape that pledged largesse to journalists who do the bidding of the government, a Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Mohammed Baba Jamal, says he feels vindicated that the voice which has been aired severally on radio stations is not his.
According to him, although, he had been vindicated, the matter would still be thoroughly investigated by the security agencies.
He told the Daily Graphic that the ministry had submitted a written complaint to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the police to appropriately investigate the opening of accounts for some beneficiaries of the alleged government sponsorship package offered them under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).
Mr Jamal was alleged to have spearheaded a campaign to use state funds to induce journalists to embellish and distort stories to enhance the chances of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2012 general election.
According to Mr Jamal, the flying around of account numbers in the name of certain personalities connoted criminality which the government was concerned about. There was the need, therefore, for thorough investigations.
The deputy minister who also threatened legal action said he was in discussion with his legal counsel on what line of action to take to clear his name.
He indicated that the allegations were not different from similar ones leveled against his colleague deputy minister, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and the sector minister, Mr John Akologu Tia, who were said to have acquired landed property in the United Kingdom and Tema respectively.
�It is just that mine was in a different dimension,� he stated.
Asked why he was the only one singled out for the alleged conspiracy among the numerous government appointees, Mr Jamal said: �my sister, when a criminal comes to your area and decides to choose your house for his operation, would you know the reason for his action?� he quizzed.
Mr Jamal who denied having a secret meeting with selected journalists in the Upper East Region said when he was in the region, he held two different meetings - one with the Regional Minister, the District Chief Executive for the area and staff of the Information Services Department (ISD) and, thereafter, held a press conference and later departed for Wa on that same day.
He, therefore, wondered when and where the supposed meeting took place and how he was present to have made such promises to the group.
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