News:
August 5, 2014
Despite the unambiguous judgment delivered by the Supreme Court that the controversial financier of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome, obtained the much publicized GH¢51 million from the state without any legal basis and that he does not deserve the money, the former Deputy Attorney General, Ebo Barton Odro still insists the state had no case to defend, when the business man sued.
Barton Odro, currently First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, was quoted as saying on a local radio station in Cape Coast, after the Supreme Court ruling: “I still stand by what I said that the state had a bad case.”
Based on this statement, the Communications team of the New Patriotic Party(NPP) in the Central Region is arguing that the Cape Coast North MP fully supported the payment of the dubious money to Mr. Woyome.
They are, therefore, demanding the immediate resignation of Mr. Ebo Barton Oduro, as both MP and First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, over what they described as ‘loose talk.’
Addressing a news conference in Cape Coast yesterday, the spokesman for the communication team, David Apinyah Ato Sam, stated that the action of the MP had brought shame and disgrace to the constituents.
He quoted the Administration ACT 2003 (act 654), which states: “Each officer or person acting in an office or employment connected with the collection, management or disbursement of public or trust of money with the control of government stores who conspires with another to defraud the government, or makes an opportunity for another person to defraud the state, commits an offense and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 5,000 penalty units, or imprisonment of a term of not exceeding 10 years, or to both.”
To Ato Sam and his team, Barton Odro has breached the Act and must resign honourably from office. They also want President Mahama to direct his Minister of Justice and Attorney General to start prosecuting Mr. Ebo Barton Odro to serve as a deterrent to other appointees in his government.
The group added that, the time to restore dignity, honor and respect to the public service is now, and Mr. Ebo Barton-Odro must lead the way.
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The Chronicle Newspaper