Mr. Ahenkorah clashed with the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in Parliament, after he felt the MP was besmirching the Akufo-Addo government with corruption allegations.

[contextly_sidebar id=”z7B1kp7O5NPcYJPVZf2GEUbvlfEvR2Yf”]Mr. Ablakwa had previously called on the Trade Ministry to apologize to President Nana Akufo-Addo for tainting the presidency with the alleged dubious dealings.

But Mr. Ahenkorah described Mr. Ablakwa as a “big liar” and accused him of making baseless allegations.

Speaking on Accra-based Peace FM, Mr. Ahenkorah maintained that he did not take the accusations against the President lightly, but he still admitted that his reactions were not justified.

“Ghanaians should forgive me and forgive my failings. When the matter came up and I had issues with it [the Minority’s approach], I should have taken my time and watched my temper.”

Mr. Ablakwa said the Deputy Minister was so furious that his actions bordered on assault.

The deputy Minister initially showed no remorse when he was interviewed on Eyewitness News, claiming that Mr. Ablakwa was out of order when he suggested that he and the NPP government were corrupt.

He however also apologized directly to Mr. Ablakwa, and indicated his willingness move past the conflict.

“My brother, Okudzeto Ablakwa, although younger than me, is still my senior in Parliament. That exchange we had in Parliament should not have happened because we are two gentlemen… None of us acquitted ourselves well, but if he won’t apologize I will so that there will peace and we can move past this.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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A visibly incensed Mr. Ahenkorah interrupted the interview that Mr. Ablakwa was granting journalists as the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, on the recent Ghana Expatriate Business Awards event, where the government was accused of charging expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000 to allow them to sit close to the President at the event.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4HG8R9w5nq9tO0CutM8oSiNBA9HVZz2w”]The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, alleged last week that the Ministry of Trade and Industry charged the expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000 each, to offer them seats close to the President at an awards ceremony.

The Asawase legislator argued that the fees charged at the event were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, and that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The Ministry however in a statement challenging the claims, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event.

It added that, it only facilitated the implementation of the new initiative [GEBA], by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events.

“As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative. The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilization to ensure that the event was organized at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation”.

“The Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements,” excerpts of the statement said.

But Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa in a statement reacting to the Ministry’s response, called on them to apologize to President Akufo-Addo for embarrassing him, insisting that the incident indeed happened and that the government is culpable.

“The least the Ministry of Trade and Industry should be doing at this point instead of seeking to justify their shameful conduct, is to apologize to President Akufo-Addo, that is, if he did not grant his blessings for this desecration of the high office he occupies, apologize to Ghanaians and refund the extorted sums to the expats,” he said.

However, the Deputy Trade Minister who interjected Ablakwa’s interview on the matter claimed that he was churning out baseless information to denigrate his Ministry and the Minister.

In that interview, Mr. Ablakwa said, “Clearly this is corruption, and that is why we demand answers. Access to the President was for the highest bidder, and there was no mention that the money was going to the Agyekum Kufuor Foundation in the 23 October letter that I have”.

Whiles Mr. Ablakwa was speaking further on the matter, the Deputy Minister interjected and shouted on top of his voice, calling him a “liar” and a “thief” at a point.

The Tema West NPP MP said “if we talk about corruption, then we should point directly at Okudzeto Ablakwa”.

He mentioned a 2012 incident in which an amount of 25,000 cedis went missing after Okudzeto, then a Deputy Education Minister, sent his car to a washing bay.

He wondered how he Okudzeto at the time came by that much money in his car, saying he did not have the moral right to accuse them of corruption.

“You lied all your life through politics…You are a big liar. Where are your facts? Show me the documents you have. You don’t have anything because all that you are saying is just coming from your mind… Don’t touch me… Let him know that he is a thief. You have stolen through your life. You have even lied through your education,” Carlos Ahenkorah remarked during the altercation.

His utterances subsequently forced Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to walk out of the interview, noting that the Deputy Minister was reacting harshly because he was uncomfortable with the revelation.

“You can tell from the Minister’s attitude that he is clearly uncomfortable with this matter and he stands exposed… I think as a public officer he has to behave himself,” he said.

Ablakwa could have been hit

According to eyewitnesses, if Mr. Ablakwa had not been advised to leave the scene, the Deputy Minister who was throwing tantrums, would have assaulted him physically.

Despite the Ministry’s claim it only introduced the event to expatriates to sponsor and attend, a 23rd October letter shows that they went beyond introducing the event to actually collecting monies from the expatriates.

The letter directed that interested expatriates were to direct their cheques to the accounts office of the Trade Ministry.

The Deputy Minister has reportedly explained that this was done to boost the credibility of the event for expatriates who may be uncomfortable parting with cash to fund a program whose organizers are not well known.

The Tema West MP said just as there are different categories of sponsorship like platinum and gold sponsors, the dinner also had a price to sit within the presidential circle and ministerial circle.

Angry MP chases TMA demolition task-force

In September 2017, Mr. Carlos Ahenkorah lost his cool and nearly assaulted the Tema Metropolitan Assembly Works Engineer who was supervising the demolition of unauthorized structures erected on the edges of a road in Tema.

The unauthorized structures, according to the Engineer, Maxwell Adu Boateng were creating a nuisance along the stretch hence the exercise.

TMA suspends Carlos Ahenkorah over demolition exercise

Following that incident, the MP was suspended for six months by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA).

The ban was however short-lived, following reports that a higher hand forced the MCE to reverse it.

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The former Deputy Minister of Education had alleged that the said relocation was without recourse to Parliament, although the house originally approved the construction of two campuses for the school at Donkorkrom and Somanya.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qtnwjM2eIKpc0dYABwhIs86DbV1zNemJ”]Speaking in an interview with Citi News, the former deputy Education Minister said, “the program which Parliament had already approved was that there will be two main campuses, the Somanya campus and the Donkorkrom campus in the Affram Plains area. The information I have, which is unimpeachable, credible, is that, this government has changed the second campus from Donkorkrom in Afram Plains to Bunso in Kyebi, and that is why they did not want to answer the question. The facility that this house approved in 2016 has to do with funding for two campuses, there is reasonable proximity.”

He said although he tried the seek clarification from the Education Minister, Matthew Opoku Prempeh on the matter, the former did not give details about the development, noting that “they know what they have done, which they are hiding from the people of this country,” hence the failure to disclose the move.

However, the Ministry of Education, in a statement, has denied these claims , saying “Ablakwa’s claim that an agreement had been reached to set up the university with Donkorkrom as one of its campuses and that government has reneged on it by relocating it to Bunso is completely false, preposterous and without merit.”

The statement further indicated that, the previous government rather reneged on this agreement by “bringing in a contractor from Brazil to do the work Exim Bank had been contracted to do. Exim Bank protested strongly against the breach of faith and decided to abandon the project as it did not intend to share the site with the Brazilian contractor.”

Background

The construction of the University was part of the Mahama administration’s vision to ensure each region in the country had a public university.

The Education Minister had told Parliament that the construction of the proposed Somanya Campus of the University would begin next month, but did not give details about the construction of the second campus.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, Mr. Ayisi-Boateng’s comment is discriminatory and undeserving of a government appointee whose duty is to remain fair in the discharge of his duty.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bScHOKtg8MeRXwYaN5tQZkO1wssHuw3A”]Speaking on Eyewitness News, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said President Akufo-Addo must immediately dismiss the diplomat for the irresponsible comment.

“Ideally, he should resign and apologize to Ghanaians, and to the President for betraying the trust that was reposed in him. He should be doing the honorable thing, but we know that in this our country, that does not happen quite often… The foreign minister, the president, must recall him with immediate effect…It is clear that this mindset cannot represent Ghana,” he said.

The diplomat, while addressing members of the Tertiary Students’ Confederacy Network  (TESCON) in the Ashanti Region over the weekend, said his first priority is to members of the party, and that if he had his own way, members of TESCON will be prioritized for various jobs.

“…this government is doing its best to create job opportunities and me for instance, I told my people over there [that], it is because of NPP that I’m here, so the NPP man is my priority. I told them when NDC was in power it was Kwesi Ahwoi who was there, now we are in power, so Ayisi-Boateng is here with you. My topmost priority is the problems of an NPP person before any other Ghanaian, take it or leave it,” he said.

But Ablakwa in reaction, said the comment is reprehensible.

“His comment is reprehensible, unacceptable and must be condemned by all of us. The constitution demands of all public officers to be fair, and treat all Ghanaians equally. The High Commissioner to South Africa is Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, not the NPP’s High Commissioner. He is paid from the taxes of all Ghanaians, NPP, NPP, CPP, and everyone.”

“He said he was there to prioritize NPP members and others can wait. It is shocking. It is shocking he said there were some people who were more Ghanaian than others,” Ablakwa said.

Okudzeto Ablakwa further noted that, the minority in parliament will commence processes to demand action against Mr. Ayisi Boateng if the President does not act.

“[It is] very insentient, very belligerent… He knows that what he is saying is unacceptable, very unconstitutional, but he says damn the consequences. Clearly, he has made it untenable for him to hold office as High Commissioner in South Africa….If the President does not act swiftly on this matter, we will be compelled to take advantage of the standing orders of parliament and file a number of processes,” he noted.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He wants Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who is also the Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee dragged before the committee over claims that some Ghanaians are fighting for ISIS in Libya.

[contextly_sidebar id=”EhabuofImL2o2RACnOtfZfkjSAHbA0TP”]Mr. Ablakwa at a press conference earlier this week, called on the government to investigate the alleged participation of some Ghanaians in ISIS activities. He said his information was based on a recent report released by the Head of Investigations at the Libyan Attorney General’s office.

But the Manhyia South MP, Mr. Amankwah, said Okudzeto Ablakwa’s comments were unsubstantiated and had the potential of jeopardizing national security.

“Issues they raised were not substantiated. The issues bordered on security matters and security matters are not like Makola or Kejetia matters where you can handle it anyhow. Some of us are considering dragging him to the privileges committee so that henceforth, such matters will be well handled as far as the legislature is concerned.”

“Foreign policy is different from national security. He could talk about it, but not the manner in which he did. We need to double-check such facts before we put it out there to create unnecessary tension and create fear and panic,” he said.

He added that, “Not everything must be put before the public especially when it borders on defense and security… The port of call must be through the national security or ministry of interior… What is his motivation in the first place?”

Meanwhile, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa insists that the Minority in Parliament did no wrong in bringing the matter up in public. He said if for anything at all, the minority deserve commendation for exposing the report to the public.

“I thought that the Minority would be commended that we are being diligent and that we are following [the matter]. As ranking member of the Foreign Affairs committee, I’m not supposed to just be cocooned within the Ghanaian space and follow only what the Ghanaian media has talked about,” Ablakwa said on Eyewitness News on Thursday.

Gov’t investigating report

In response to the Minority’s public comments on the matter, the Majority said on Wednesday that the government is investigating the report, and will certainly break its silence on the matter after the investigation.

Ablakwa urged the government to treat the matter as a top priority, as it potentially concerned the safety of Ghanaians.

“This is a very serious matter and that is why we believe that government must accord it all the seriousness it deserves. We did conduct background checks” he insisted.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Mr. Amidu, a former Attorney General in his latest epistle chastised Ablakwa for supposedly attacking him in an article titled “Martin Amidu’s ‘Hate Agenda,” which sought to take him on over some comments he made against former president John Mahama who was an international observer during the Kenyan election which was subsequently annulled by that country’s Supreme Court.

[contextly_sidebar id=”mEPoIhUoKEeYKcbdF7hMPnLKgsoFd3KS”]The former Attorney General did not mince words at all in taking Ablakwa to the cleaners in his five-paged publication.

“I was astounded to read a feature article by dishonourable Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa entitled ‘Martin Amidu’s ‘Hate Agenda’ …on 5th September 2017 in which he opens with his conduct of restraining himself from commenting on my deliberate attacks on the former President and the NDC because of his respect for elders in the NDC and the party in general.”

“Okudzeto Ablakwa is the person whom while claiming to be entitled to the title Honourable Deputy Minister at age 28 years without having done any public service in his life has made himself notorious for insulting everybody old enough to be his father and other elders including former President Rawlings and former President Kufuor. But Okudzeto Ablakwa chose to give the impression in his feature article devoted to insulting me with reckless abandon that he respects elders, at least in the NDC, and excuses his attacks on me for exercising my right to free speech in congratulating the Kenyan Supreme Court for the Court’s decision annulling the 8th August 2017 elections on the flimsy ground that I had attacked ‘the former President’ whom I believe is supposedly dumb figuratively and therefore unable to speak for himself,” he added in the article.

But in his response, Mr. Ablakwa said “I state for the record and in true conscience before God and man that I have authored no article on Hon. Martin A.B.K. Amidu.”

“I have taken the effort to Google search the said article which I am accused of writing and found the article: ‘Martin Amidu’s ‘Hate Agenda’…’ rather published in the name of Ohenenana Obonti Krow on ghananewsonline.com.gh dated September 4, 2017,” Mr. Ablakwa said in a statement.

Meanwhile, citifmonline.com’s checks show that ghananewsonline.com.gh did publish the said article, titled “Martin Amidu’s “Hate Agenda”—His Outstanding Disrespect For Mahama, The NDC And The Judiciary Is Astounding” on September 4, 2017 with Ohenenana Obonti Krow being the author.

Modernghana.com on the other hand,  posted the same article the following day, September 5, 2017, with the author’s name being Andrews Krow.

Checks by citifmonline.com however appears to suggest that the article in question was written by one individual with two different first and middle names, but the same last name.

Sources at modernghana.com also told citifmonline.com that, they have not published any article from the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

They however said the writer of the article which appeared on their website is a supporter of the NDC and a known columnist on their website.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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President Akufo-Addo, in his first State of the Nation address, said his administration did not inherit a stable economy from the erstwhile Mahama-led government.

The President revealed that government missed all the targets set for the country under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme due to fiscal indiscipline in the management of public funds.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Ablakwa watered down these claims, saying President Akufo-Addo would not have introduced policies such as the Free SHS programme and Nurses trainee allowance if the economy was indeed broke.

“If you read the full State of the Nation Address, you will come to the conclusion that this economy cannot be a broke economy. This is the same economy that President Akufo Addo is saying that he is able to provide allowances to teacher trainees and nursing trainees. He is able to begin his free SHS programme and we should look forward to the Minister of Finance presenting his budget which will give us details on how he is going to do that. He is also upbeat about implementing a lot of his promises. The one village, one dam policy etc.”

“President Mahama has always spoken to the challenges. There is a difference when you do objective analysis and talk about challenges, and there is another issue that has to do with exaggerating and creating a situation that does not exist. If you say that we have revenue shortfalls; if you talk about the fact that we have missed some of the IMF targets that we have set, yes; that is fair, but in the same breadth, why do we think that the President did not touch on inflation? Because inflation has been trending downwards, interest rates have been trending downwards. so it is about picking and choosing and the picture you want to paint,” he added.

Though Ablakwa insists the economy is not in crisis as President Akufo-Addo wants Ghanaians to believe, the NPP Member of Parliament for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwarteng, said the President painted a true picture of the state of Ghana’s economy.

“This was a State of the Nation Address. He owed it a responsibility to the people of this country to tell them about the economy he had inherited so he put out the facts. If anybody thinks the facts  are wrong, they should say which specific facts are wrong then we can have a discussion on that.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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This follows his letter to the committee on Thursday [February 16] urging it to invite him because he was a party to the case.

His letter authored by his attorneys and addressed to the Chairman of the committee, Joe Ghartey said, even though he was aware the chairman had limited the number of witnesses to appear before the committee to 4, excluding him, he wanted to appear as well to narrate his side of the story.

Portions of the letter said, “our client further instructs us that it has come to his attention that your Committee has decided to limit the number of witnesses to be called to give evidence and that he has not been named as one of such witnesses.

“However, in his testimony which was beamed live on National television and which has been widely reported in the national print media, the chairman of the Appointments Committee and first deputy speaker of parliament, Honourable Joseph Osei Owusu, mentioned our client as having told him that the bribery allegation was made up… Since our client was not given an opportunity to cross examine Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu on this unsubstantiated piece of evidence, it would surely be in accord with the rules of natural justice that our client be heard in his own defence before your Committee.”

The letter also warned that Mr Ablakwa would seek redress in court if the Committee fails to invite him.

Citi News have gathered that following the receipt of the letter, the committee has decided to invite Mr Ablakwa to also appear.

The ad-hoc committee is expected to sit today, [Friday, February 2017] to listen to the testimonies Alhaji Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka, the Minority Chief Whip, MP for Asawasi, Mahama Ayariga, MP for Bawku Central, Mr Boakye Agyarko, the Energy Minister and the North Tongu legislator, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

‘Bribery scandal’

Three members of the minority on that committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Alhassan Suhuyini and Mahama Ayariga alleged that some monies were paid to them after the vetting of Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko to help facilitate his [Boakye Agyarko’s] approval.

The allegations were dismissed by the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joe Osei Owusu and Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak Mohammed, whose names were mentioned as conduits of the alleged payment.

The three MPs subsequently petitioned the speaker of the House, Prof. Mike Oquaye to investigate the allegations.

A five-member committee chaired by a former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Ghartey, was constituted to investigate the allegations and presents its report within 30 days.

Members of the committee’

The committee charged the investigate the matter is made up of the MP for Offinso South, Mr Ben Abdallah Banda; the MP for Juaben, Madam Ama Pomaah Boateng; the MP for Yilo Krobo, Mr Magnus Kofi Amoateng, and the MP for Talensi, Mr Benson Tongo Baba. It has Joe Ghartey, who is also the Member of Parliament for Essikado-Kentan as chairman.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Speaking at a press conference in Ho on Monday, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who is also Chairman of the Communications committee of the Volta NDC Campaign taskforce, said although polls characterize elections, predictions from pundits, pollsters and the media, do not reflect the true situation on the ground.

He added that, as a political party, the NDC is not perturbed by the various predictions by pollsters; but has its focus on the masses who are witnesses to the development Ghana has seen under the leadership of President John Dramani Mahama.

“Real power belongs to the ordinary masses. Real power doesn’t belong to pundits, posters and the media. But once we keep faith with the people, we remain loyal to them, we showed them what we have done for them and the plans we have for them, we speak their language, we do not alienate them; we do not refer to them as Togolese, as foreigners , it is they you have the power in. The pollsters and the pundits can engage in all kinds of predictions. We have seen all kinds of predictions that suggest we are losing and Akufo-Addo is making inroads in the Volta Region; but we are inspired by the outcome of the US elections that real power belongs to the ordinary masses and not in the hands of pundits” he stated

Outlining the various projects carried out in the Volta region by the NDC,the MP said he believes that the NDC has the best Presidential Candidate in John Mahama, who will come out victorious on December 7.

Donald Trump pulled a surprise victory at the just ended elections in the United States of America, defying polls that suggested Hilary Clinton would win the general elections.

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By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government will determine the cost for all the promised in the manifesto in the 2017 budget after its re-election on December 7.

“The manifesto of the NDC has not yet been costed. The 2017 budget God-willing when we are elected and President Mahama returns for his second and final term, that will be presented to parliament will spell out the details, that is when Ghanaians will know how much this particular manifesto pledge will cost,” Ablakwa said.

Speaking to Citi News’ Caleb Kudah, Mr. Ablakwa denied the NDC promises “1 student, 1 tablet computer”.

According to him, it was a misrepresentation of what the President actually said at an event to reveal highlights of the NDC manifesto.

Mr. Ablakwa noted that “We are not promising one student, one tablet. The President has said the he is introducing e-textbooks, in the same way he want to introduce wifi zones in our secondary and tertiary schools.”

President Mahama at the presentation of highlights of the NDC’s manifesto earlier this month revealed that text books for the various core subjects will be converted into softwares which will be put on tablets and distributed to Junior High and Senior High School students.

He said the initiative will first be piloted and subsequently expanded with the aim of helping to boost the competencies of the all students in core subjects.

“Students will receive tablets that have all their core subjects on the tablet. If the pilot is successful, the programme shall be expanded,” Mahama said.

NDC manifesto not mere promises – Mahama

Meanwhile, President John Mahama says the NDC manifesto does not contain mere promises meant to entice Ghanaians to vote for the party, but captures the unique plans of the NDC to move Ghana forward if given the mandate to serve for a second term.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories.  

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By: Jonas Nyabor/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

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