Former Central Regional Chairman of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has jumped to the defense of
President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo who has been tagged as a clearing agent
for corruption by the opposition.
Allotey Jacobs, who now describes himself as a
social commentator, says it is wrong to tag Akufo-Addo as corrupt.
“You can’t hang corruption on the neck of
Akufo-Addo. If you know him well, you will know that you cannot hang corruption
on his neck. It is the appointees that are corrupt,” he indicated on Peace
FM‘s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’.
Allotey Jacobs was reacting to comments made by the NDC at a press conference
on Tuesday.
The NDC’s press conference was against the backdrop of President
Akufo-Addo’s speech delivered on Monday at the Bar Conference held in Takoradi.
While addressing the 2019 Conference of the Ghana Bar Association, in Takoradi,
in the Western Region, the President, who has been tagged as a ‘clearing agent’
by members of the opposition party, insisted that all his appointees accused of corruption have
been exonerated because they were declared innocent by investigative agencies
directed to probe such claims made against them.
He accused the opposition NDC of fabricating
corruption allegations against his appointees.
“It is not my job to clear or convict
any person accused of wrongdoing, or of engaging in acts of corruption…it
cannot be the case that people are condemned on the basis of mere allegations.
That is the law of the jungle” he indicated.
The NDC shot back on
Tuesday accusing the president of having made “corruption the foundation of his government”, and his
assertions not in sync with the reality on the
ground.
General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, at a press conference
described Nana
Addo as the “most nepotistic” President Ghana has ever produced,
adding that “he (Akufo-Addo) must accept full
responsibility for the unenviable accolade as the most corrupt President in
Ghana’s history, which hangs around his neck and find out why it is so.”
He further pointed out that “it has been established
beyond all reasonable doubt that corruption is a way of life for the President
and his government”.
But contributing to a panel discussion on the
flagship ‘Kokrokoo’ show, Allotey Jacobs pooh-poohed on the
attempt by the NDC to hang a tag of corruption around the president’s
neck.
He, however, believed delay in the delivery of justice was threatening the
fight against corruption.
“….if the judiciary could expedite prosecution on corrupt matters, it
will serve as a deterrent to others,” he added.
