General News of Wednesday, 9 May 2012Source: GNA The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), said on Wednesday that the people of Ghana will not tolerate any attempt by the government to frustrate the prosecution of the Alfred Woyome case.

In a statement issued at a press conference in Accra and copied to the Ghana News Agency, AFAG said it sensed something very suspicious about the way the ruling government was dealing with this matter.

“Our suspicion, based on both intelligence that we have gathered and the prosecution’s own unprofessional approach to this matter is that, the government has no intention and, indeed, no appetite to go ahead with the prosecution of the man that has been accused of defrauding the state of some GH¢51 million”, said the statement.

Signed by Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, Abu Ramadan, Arnold Boateng, Bright Acheampong and Zalia Yakubu, the statement described AFAG’s latest move as an effort to “focus public attention on the ‘criminal trial’ against businessman and self-confessed NDC financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome.”

The group said it did not accept the excuse by the prosecution that the case needed to be returned to the police for further investigation, describing the idea as “just the next in a series of delay tactics that government intends to deploy between now and the end of 2012.”

It argued that all the documents connected to the case were available and that its checks with the police showed that neither Woyome nor anyone else connected to the case had been invited by the police for any investigation to be undertaken so far.

“EOCO was instructed by the President to investigate this matter and this was even after the Attorney-General had concluded, based on all the evidence available, that Woyome had defrauded the state. EOCO came to the same conclusion. So what is it that is left to be investigated?” the group asked.

The statement said the decision by the prosecution to ask for more time to investigate the matter was unacceptable, and alleged that the Attorney-General’s (A-G’s) Department appeared simply to be delaying justice to deny the people of Ghana justice on the alleged theft of state money.

“AFAG will like to caution the AG’s office that, the people of Ghana will not accept any cover up in this case. AFAG would wish to advise the lawyers in the A-G’s Department not to allow themselves to be used as instruments to cover up this alleged fraud and shield the perpetrators from justice”, the statement said.

It warned that if the un-preparedness of the AG’s Department remained at the time of the next hearing on the June 4, 2012, AFAG will have no option than to press forward a series of actions “sufficient to re-assure government and the AG of the public’s keen interest in having this matter prosecuted with all the seriousness it deserves.”

The statement also called on President Mills to relieve Mr Ebo Barton Oduro, Dr Kwabena Duffour and Mr Henry Martey Newman of their posts.**