{"id":27472,"date":"2014-06-25T19:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-25T19:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=27472"},"modified":"2014-06-25T21:56:27","modified_gmt":"2014-06-25T21:56:27","slug":"akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki"},"content":{"rendered":"

The contents of an interview granted by Mr Dan Abodakpi on Adom FM\u2019s Dwaso Nsem<\/i> morning show on Monday June 23, 2014, have been brought to my notice. Of particular concern to me are some allegations made by the former Minister of Trade under President Rawlings regarding his prosecution and subsequent conviction by the Accra Fast Track High Court.<\/p>\n

It may be recalled that on February 5, 2007, the Court, after an exhaustive trial, found Mr Abodakpi and one other guilty on seven counts of conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding by false pretenses and wilfully causing financial loss to the State.<\/p>\n

I find it unfortunate that Mr Abodakpi, who has announced his intention to contest for the chairmanship of the National Democratic Congress, will drag President Kufuor and I<\/span> into his party\u2019s internal contest.<\/p>\n

In the interview, Mr Abodakpi claimed that, on the decision to prosecute him, he knew \u201cfor a fact\u201d that I, as Attorney-General, advised President Kufuor \u201cthat this is not the way to go on this matter.\u201d He further alleged, \u201cI know President Kufuor himself called for the docket and ordered some people to proceed with the prosecution. It wasn\u2019t Nana Akufo-Addo who presented my case in court.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am surprised that a senior political figure such as Ambassador Abodapki would make such an unguarded statement.\u00a0 Mr Abodapki could not have known for a fact that I, as Attorney-General, was against his prosecution since no prosecution can go forward unless the Attorney-General is satisfied that a prima facie<\/i> case has been raised against the accused.\u00a0 Political considerations do not enter into the matter.<\/p>\n

In any event, professional advice that an Attorney-General (or any Minister of State for that matter) gives to the President of the Republic is privileged communication, not public information.<\/p>\n

Secondly, the Constitution of the Republic makes it clear that the power to prosecute any criminal case is given exclusively to the Attorney-General. The President has nothing to do with it. As Attorney-General, I was not aware of President Kufuor ever calling for the docket of the case involving Mr Abodapki or any other case for that matter.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, criminal trials by the Attorney-General\u2019s Department are usually conducted by the Director of Public Prosecutions or his\/her subordinates.\u00a0 So, it is not at all strange for the Attorney-General not to be personally involved in proceedings<\/span> of a criminal trial.<\/p>\n

Again, Mr Abodapki describes his prosecution as \u201cpersecutorial<\/span>,\u201d creating the impression that the Kufuor government was \u201cable to work out such that some people on the Bench can be on the beck and call\u201d of the President. Allegations of this nature are unfortunate because of their tendency to undermine the independence of the Judiciary.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, his claim that the New Patriotic Party came to office with a \u201cpolicy\u201d to \u201cjail all the members of this or that party so that [the NPP] shall be stronger\u201d is completely unfounded.<\/p>\n

Under the Kufuor administration, at least three prominent figures of the NDC, including current ministers, Kwesi Ahwoi and Sherry Ayitey, and Seti Ocran, were all acquitted by the courts. And, there were no attempts by Attorney-General Akufo-Addo to appeal against their acquittals.<\/p>\n

Is it, therefore, being suggested that the criminal cases brought, under the NDC administration, against former senior officials of the Kufuor government, including former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani, former Foreign Minister Osei Adjei, former Minister of Transport Richard Anane, former Minister of Information Asamoah Boateng, are all \u2018persecutorial\u2019 and driven by a deliberate \u2018policy\u2019 to make the NDC \u2018stronger\u2019 at the expense of trumped up charges against their political opponents?<\/p>\n

The NPP is founded on the principles of democratic accountability, individual liberty and responsibility, the rule of law and fairness. Both President Kufuor and I are firm believers in these principles. We believe in punishing wrongdoing, which Ambassador Abodapki recognises as legitimate, and not persecuting our political opponents. The integrity of Ghana\u2019s democracy demands that we all respect decisions of the courts, including the ones which may affect us personally and with which we may disagree.<\/p>\n

The allegations by Mr Abodapki on these matters are, with respect, false and I hope that this statement from me will help set the records straight. I have also taken note of the fact that President Kufuor has issued a statement, through his spokesperson, Frank Agyekum, denying these allegations.<\/p>\n

I, nevertheless, wish Mr Abodakpi the best of luck with his campaign to be the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026signed\u2026\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo<\/b><\/p>\n

London, Wednesday, June 25, 2014.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Credit: Nana Addo’s office<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The contents of an interview granted by Mr Dan Abodakpi on Adom FM\u2019s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Monday June 23, 2014, have been brought to my notice. Of particular concern to me are some allegations made by the former Minister of Trade under President Rawlings regarding his prosecution and subsequent conviction by the Accra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[43,38],"yoast_head":"\nStatement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The contents of an interview granted by Mr Dan Abodakpi on Adom FM\u2019s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Monday June 23, 2014, have been brought to my notice. Of particular concern to me are some allegations made by the former Minister of Trade under President Rawlings regarding his prosecution and subsequent conviction by the Accra […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-25T19:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-25T21:56:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Nana-Addo1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"236\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/\",\"name\":\"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-25T19:00:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-06-25T21:56:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"The contents of an interview granted by Mr Dan Abodakpi on Adom FM\u2019s Dwaso Nsem morning show on Monday June 23, 2014, have been brought to my notice. Of particular concern to me are some allegations made by the former Minister of Trade under President Rawlings regarding his prosecution and subsequent conviction by the Accra […]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2014-06-25T19:00:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-25T21:56:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":236,"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Nana-Addo1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/","name":"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-06-25T19:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-25T21:56:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/06\/akufo-addo-replies-dan-abodapki\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Statement: Akufo-Addo replies Dan Abodapki"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27472"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}