Why President Mills Is Still At Post - Kennedy Agyapong

New Patriotic Party firebrand and Member of Parliament for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong, says President Mills is still at post because the Minority in Parliament does not have the numbers to impeach him in the wake of revelations in the Woyome scandal. The MP explained that, if Parliament was controlled by a strong Minority, President Mills would have been impeached because he has shown gross incompetence in the handling of the judgement debt paid to National Democratic Congress financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome. Contributing to a panel discussion on Adom FM�s Dwaso Nsem following the release of the interim report of the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) to President Mills, Kennedy Agyapong said the President should resign honourably. According to the MP, the president is not fit to continue to parade himself as an incorruptible man when the Woyomegate happened under his watch. The EOCO report indicates among other things �...that the NDC financier had no basis for making the claims which accorded him the GHS52 million judgement debt�. �It found that Mr. Woyome manipulated documents and rode on the negligence and/or complicity of public officials to receive money he was clearly not entitled to.� The report also reveals orders by President Mills to state officials to stop the payment were ignored. According to Mr. Agyapong, President Mills had earlier claimed he was not aware of the payment of the judgement debt to Mr. Woyome and this indicates that he is not on top of issues in the country. The outspoken MP said this Woyomegate will take the NDC back to opposition because the NDC promised in the run-up to the 2008 elections that, the government would not tolerate acts of corruption. He added that this campaign has been in vain because corruption is now the order of the day in the Mills administration. Mr. Agyapong bemoaned the situation where some public officials in the country have decided to dupe the nation by conniving with some politicians. He maintained that some civil servants are so cunning that they use the power of the pen to dupe the state and put the blame on the doorstep of politicians. He said public officials and politicians who have been indicted in the Woyome scandal should be prosecuted for duping the state. Mr. Agyapong questioned the basis for giving GHC 400,000 to the wife of the State Attorney, who has no direct business with the Attorney General�s department. The MP called for the dismissal of the Deputy Attorney General, Ebow Barton Oduro based on his earlier statement on another network that the scandal was very bad for the A-G. �Why is this man still there, if Barton Oduro who is a Fante, same as the President is not dismissed, then President Mills is engaging in tribalism by sacrificing the former Attorney General, Martin Amidu who is a northerner' he said. The MP, who first brought the Woyome scandal to light, said based on the series of revelations coming out from the issue, he has been vindicated for pointing out the crime. However, the Managing Editor of the Al-Hajj newspaper, Alhaji Iddrisu Bature, counter-argued that President Mills has handled the Woyome scandal very well by instructing the EOCO to make their report public. Alhaji Bature said Ghanaians are happy because the government is being transparent in dealing with the issue. He said President Mills is not corrupt and therefore will let anyone dupe the state. He quoted a portion of the EOCO report which asked, �Upon what basis was he (Alfred Woyome) later demanding over 22 Euros million. If nothing at all there could have been a defense against the quantum that Mr. Woyome was asking for in court�, to buttress his claim that Mr Woyome deserved some payment. The Managing Editor dismissed the assertion that the Woyomegate scandal will send the NDC to opposition.