At about this time, there appeared the first signs
of unrest and conflict within the NPP. To begin with, there had been complaints
from many quarters about the way in which the Party’s flag-bearer in the 1996
presidential elections, Mr. J.A. Kufuor, had conducted his campaign. Some
sections of the party laid the blame for the loss of the elections on Kufuor
and accused him of “political duplicity and financial impropriety”.
Among the accusations was the claim that the former
presidential candidate had diverted into his private account donations that had
been made by party supporters outside Ghana. Allegations were also made that
Kufuor had used the name of the NPP to enter into business deals, using the
stamp of the party without the knowledge or the approval of the party
leadership.
An example of the transactions was the case in which
it was claimed that Kufuor and his campaign team had bought 55 motorbikes from
a private company in the name of the party. It was alleged that they had
paraded the motorbikes as gifts from Friends of J.A. Kufuor (FOJAK), and had
used the transaction as a proof of their ability to raise financial support for
the NPP.
Subsequently, the company that supplied the
motorbikes, Concordia Ventures Ltd, claimed that it had not been paid for the
purchase and took legal action against the NPP in the High Court in Accra. The
party executives, led by the National Chairman, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey,
challenged the suit on the ground that the NPP leadership had not endorsed the
purchase of the motorbikes from Concordia Ventures.
He contended that, although the signatories of the
transaction-Alhaji Issaka Inusah and Tommy Amematekpor-had claimed to be acting
on behalf of the NPP, neither of them had necessary authority to commit the
Party. Further the Party Chairman maintained that at no time was the sale
agreement with Concordia Ventures ratified by the Party leadership.
He explained that the only people who had the
appropriate power and authority to seal the deal in the name of the Party were
himself as the Chairman, the Treasurer and the General Secretary of the Party.
According to the Chairman, Inusah and Amematekpor had acted in their capacities
as Chairman and Logistic Manager, respectively, of Kufuor’s campaign team.
Chairman Adjetey, therefore, argued that the persons who could be held liable
for the amount owing to Concordia Ventures were Kufuor and the members of his
campaign team who had entered into transaction. The NPP as a party had no
responsibility in the matter.
This view was challenged by both Kufuor and his camp
and also by Concordia Ventures Ltd. Kufuor continued to maintain that the
purchase of the motorbikes was a legitimate transaction on behalf of the NPP
and in the name of the Party. In this connection, it is worth observing that
the argument of Chairman Adjetey that the signatories of the sale agreement
were acting in their personal capacities as members of the presidential
campaign team of Kufuor appeared to imply that Kufuor’s presidential campaign
team was in some way independent of the NPP.
For its part, Concordia Ventures argued that the
agreement had been concluded with officials of the campaign team of Mr. J. A.
Kufuor, who was the NPP’s presidential candidate in the 1996 elections. They
claimed that the transaction had been entered into with the full knowledge,
consent and blessing of the NPP, and for the benefit of that Party.
While the ruling of the High Court on the case was
awaited sometime in early July 1997, a bombshell was thrown into the Party in
the form of serious allegations of financial impropriety against Mr. J.A.
Kufuor.
In a strongly worded letter addressed to the
National Chairman, Mr. Peter Ala Adjetey, one Mr. Colin Essamuah, a member of
the Party, called for an immediate inquiry into the management of the finances
of NPP campaign for the 1996 presidential elections. In the communication, Mr.
Essamuah made allegations which impugned the integrity of the Party’s
presidential candidate and four others in regard to the party’s finances in the
1996 elections. As a step, Mr. Essamuah demanded the immediate suspension of
J.A. Kufuor from the Party and the banning of the party’s General Secretary,
Agyenim Boateng.
In response to the letter, the Chairman appointed a committee to probe the allegations against Kufuor and four others mentioned by Mr. Essamuah. The Committee was under the chairmanship of Mr. Anthony Deku, a senior member of the Party and a former member of the NLC (National Liberation Council) which ruled the country from February 1966 to September 1969. The other members of the Committee were Mr. Daniel Charles Gyimah of USAID and Ms. Gloria Akuffo, a strong party member and a lawyer at Nana Addo Dankwa Chambers.
In response to the letter, the Chairman appointed a committee to probe the allegations against Kufuor and four others mentioned by Mr. Essamuah. The Committee was under the chairmanship of Mr. Anthony Deku, a senior member of the Party and a former member of the NLC (National Liberation Council) which ruled the country from February 1966 to September 1969. The other members of the Committee were Mr. Daniel Charles Gyimah of USAID and Ms. Gloria Akuffo, a strong party member and a lawyer at Nana Addo Dankwa Chambers.
The Committee was charged to investigate the
management of finances for the 1996 presidential elections. Unfortunately, the
committee took the view that because the NPP had included the motorbikes and
other items as its asserts and had so reported to the Electoral Commission,
there was no issue to be probed regarding the purchase of the motorbikes.
Therefore, it decided that it would only call Essamuah to substantiate the
charges it had leveled against Kufuor. Essamuah did not take kindly to this and
protested vehemently to chairman of the party.
It happened that the attorneys for Concordia
Ventures were from the law of Kujawu & Co. which was believed to have
strong links with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). It came as no
surprise, therefore, that the NDC used the allegations in the case to its
advantage by accusing the Party and its leadership of financial and other
improprieties.
On 9 June 1998, J.A Kufuor replied to Colin
Essamuah’s letter through the Pioneer newspaper. He referred to offences that
he and his campaign team were alleged to have committed, including the illegal
acquisition of some motorbikes and bicycles; the collection of separate amounts
of £25,000 and $100,000 from party supporters as well as an amount of ¢50
million from Nana Akwasi Agyeman, the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive. All
the sums of money were intended for the 1996 election campaign but which had
allegedly found their way into their pockets. He vehemently denied the
allegations and described them as unfounded and very misleading, adding that
they must therefore not be taken seriously.
Concerning the moneys he was alleged to have
collected abroad, he denied ever collecting and pocketing such large sums of
money. The 1996 NPP Presidential candidate also said that any debt incurred in
the course of the campaign ought to be borne by the party as a whole and not
any individual. He further said that if, in spite of this, the Party felt that
it would probe them at all costs then they should go ahead. He, however,
cautioned the committee which would undertake the probe to let truthfulness and
transparency prevail during the probe.
In a story written by Steve Mallory in the issue of
The African Observer of Monday June 15-Sunday June 28, 1998, Mr. Kojo Mpainim,
the Director of Finance of Kufuor’s 1996 campaign, made an attack on the
Chairman of the Party. He accused Mr. Adjetey of engaging in a politically
motivated fishing expedition. He claimed that the party chairman had said
privately to his close associates that he would quit his position as Chairman
of the NPP if Kufuor were re-nominated as the Party’s presidential candidate
for the elections to be held in the year 2000.
Mpainim was quoted as saying that “the only way
therefore for (Adjetey) to remain as chairman for the party was to tarnish the
image of Kufuor, using surrogates like Colin Essamuah to write a scurrilous
letter and use it as a basis for a so-called probe”.
Mpainim also alleged that Adjetey had been
conspiring and plotting with “some political generals” to reduce the influence
of Kufuor in the NPP and scuttle his bid for a second attempt at the
presidency. He alleged that Kwame Donkoh Fordwor, the Ashanti Regional Chairman
of the Party, was one of the “architects of the dirty scheme” to destroy
Kufuor. These allegations were, of course, hotly denied by both Peter Adjetey
and Dr. Donkoh Fordwor who described them as absurd.
The decision in the case between the Concordia
Ventures Ltd. and the NPP was given on Friday 24 July 1997. The Accra High
Court presided over by his Lordship Justice Nana Gyamera Tawiah ruled that the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) was liable for the settlement of an outstanding
amounts of $90,000 and ¢16,460,000 owed to Concordia Ventures for the purchase
of 55 Yamaha motorbikes in 1996.
The court also granted the company’s claim for
interest at the rate of 47 percent, effective from November 15, 1996. Costs in
the sum of 5 million cedis were also awarded against the NPP.
Concordia Ventures was represented by Mr. Kwadwo
Amoafo of Kudjawu Chambers. The NPP defence team, led by the veteran lawyer Mr.
T.D. Broddie-Mends, was conspicuously absent from court.
Giving reasons for the ruling, Justice Nana Gyamera
said, “I am really at a loss as to how the defendants (NPP) can be said not to
have authorized a logistics director and a campaign manager to order the
motorbikes for their campaign activities during the 1996 elections”.
He said that at the time the agreement was ratified
in October 1996, political party campaigns for power in the 1996 elections were
“at its highest pitch”. He noted that the action of the Director of Logistics
and the Campaign Manager in procuring motorbikes was something which the party
knew of and from which it benefited. Hence the NPP, and not the 1996 campaign
team, should be held liable. “I therefore find their defence to be a hollow one
and accordingly enter judgment in favour of plaintiff (Concordia Ventures Ltd)
as prayed for with costs assessed as ¢5 million”.
…to be continued
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