A founding member of the New Patriotic Party who was cited in a GH¢187 million judgment debt scandal has replied the Member of Parliament of North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
In a tweet on August 15, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko responded to an article by GhanaWeb titled “Kitchen scandal: Government has backed down from paying GH¢187m judgment debt – Ablakwa” saying it was laughable.
According to him, Ablakwa created a scandal against his own party and also represented a client over a contract that he now questions.
His tweet read: “Laughable. You created a “scandal” against your own NDC! You’ve made Ken Ofori-Atta look good for “standing up” 2yrs against his “influential” cousin, representing a client with a good case over a contract President Mahama awarded, which you now question!”
In a response issued on Friday, August 4, 2023, Gabby maintained that his firm was engaged in a rather legitimate duty on behalf of their client.
According to him, his firm has, since April 2021, been engaged by West Blue Ghana Limited to assist the company recover an amount of GH¢187,356,969 being outstanding payments due it from the Government of the Republic of Ghana under a contract dated August 4, 2015, and executed between West Blue, on one hand, and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), on the other hand.
Background
The MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, published some documents titled "Kitchen scandal" on August 1, 2023.
In the publication, Ablakwa alleged that Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, cousin of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was seeking to enforce payment of GH¢187.3 million judgment debt to his client, West Blue, even though the current government has varied the contract.
He said that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government did a value-for-money audit on the contract in question and conclude that West Blue rather owes the government of Ghana and not the other way round.
"The Kitchen Scandal is a tale of betrayal, bravado, double standards, influence peddling, dishonesty, greed, collusion, arm-twisting, naked nepotism and blatant rape of the public purse.
"The Kitchen Scandal will afford us a rare insight into how President Akufo-Addo’s “Kitchen Cabinet” operates and how destructive they have been to national progress," the MP’s introductory paragraphs in the exposé read.
Read GhanaWeb’s earlier article below
The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has stated that his exposés on corruption in the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo administration are not aimed at making him popular and the government unpopular.
According to him, his main aim is to protect the interest of Ghanaians and, by duty, also hold the other branches of government, particularly the executive, so they don't misappropriate the nation's resources at their disposal.
The MP, who made these remarks in an interview on GHOne TV, on Monday, August 14, 2023, cited the example of how his publication on a transaction of the government, which he describes as the 'kitchen scandal', has helped save the nation GH¢187 million in judgment debt.
“For example, the GH¢187.3 million that I have just protected by exposing the 'Kitchen scandal’. I mean when I check with my sources in the system, the government has now backed off … the GRA is no more been given pressure to pay the money.
“And the GRA folks are so grateful for this exposé… that is GH¢187.3 million that can now be used for example, to pay road contractors who are owed, school feeding suppliers who owed, all these abandoned projects all over the place.
“So, let's look at it within a national interest picture that these exposés are in the interest of the country. … if in the process, perhaps how terrible a particular ruling party looks, emerges, well, let's say is collateral damage. It comes with it, but my primary objective here is to protect the public purse is to make sure that this country's democracy functions,” he said.
SSD/DAG
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Gabby Otchere-Darko