A modest protest to petition anti-graft agency, Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) over some alleged embezzlement of state funds attracted over 2,300 protesters, police have said.
The Friday protest led by Adom FM’s Morning Show host, Captain Smart, was to trigger an investigation into some cases of malfeasance in the fourth Republic.
Mr Smart told Israel Laryea on Joy FM’s Midday News, the agitation was not targetted at any one particular regime.
“We are looking at all the administrations under the Fourth Republic,” he said.
He noted among the 310 documents presented to EOCO officials over the financial irregularities, was one about an appointee under former President John Kufuor’s administration.
“We presented a document on Professor Kassim Kasanga [former Lands Minister] during John Kufuor’s time when he took $14 million,” he said.
The protesters clad in red and black wielding placards with various writings marched through the principal streets of Accra to the EOCO office near the Arts Centre.
Their messages coalesced into one loud message that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government should prosecute former government officials found to have stolen from the state.
Already, there have been cases of alleged mismanagement and embezzlement of state funds by appointees of the past National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
At least three people at the National Communications Authority (NCA) have been cited for allegedly embezzling over $4 million in a murky deal with an Isreali company to supply intelligence equipment. They include the former Board Chairman, Eugene Baffo-Bonnie and former CEO, William Tevie.
Also the Executive Director of the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), Samuel Sarpong is under investigation by the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) for some questionable payments.
The amount of GHS435,087 is said to have been transferred into Mr Sarpong’s account in two tranches.
PURC Director of Public Relations, Nana Yaa Jantuah was also accused of conniving with the Executive Director over the questionable payment.
Mr Smart said the nation’s debt totalling GHS127.1 billion would not have accumulated if the money was not stolen by some of the former government appointees.
He said the embezzled money cited in the 310 documents that were submitted to EOCO should be in the region of $1.2 billion. This, he said is enough to pay the country’s outstanding debt.
“We are expecting EOCO to take further action, reinvestigate, arrest and prosecute where necessary. We told them after three months and if we don’t see anything there will be further action,” he said.”
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