North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the latest hue and cry over the salary of former COCOBOD CEO, Dr Stephen Opuni has confirmed his observation that government is witch-hunting him.
“I think I can now begin to point to some witch-hunt” he said on JOY FM’s Saturday news analysis show Newsfile.
Revelations that the former CEO was on a gross salary of 75,000 ($18,750) has set tongues wagging with what vocal sections of the public consider excessive and immoral.
Some have expressed shock at a cash trapped cocoa marketing board is able to shell out the 4-digit figure every month. New CEO Hackman Owusu Agyeman has vowed to make drastic cuts in the renumeration package of senior management at the Board.
But for Okudzeto Ablakwa, this fresh attack on Dr. Opuni is another jigsaw which fits into his theory that the former government official is a target of state-sponsored harassment.
Cataloguing the basis of his complaint, Ablakwa observed that Dr. Opuni was the first of several CEOs of state-owned enterprises to be fired following a change in government.
“He was invited to the Flagstaff House, stayed there virtually the whole day. Then received his letter indicating that, that evening he should vacate post. He was not even given time to go to the office and pack out”
The North Tongu MP said the style of his dismissal attracted condemnation from a respected senior citizen K. B Asante.
Since his humiliating sacking, six days after a new government was inaugurated on January 7, Dr. Opuni is being hounded by state security apparatus, Okudzeto lamented.
Okudzeto Ablakwa said Dr.Opuni has not been told of his crimes or charges and yet “every day, he s facing one probe or the other. If he is not at the CID, he is at BNI, he is at EOCO”.
Opuni is being investigated for fraud following reports linking him to shady deals and contracts. But the North Tongu MP stressed government if it believes Opuni has a case to answer, it must go according to legal procedure.
The NDC MP said discussions about the salary of Dr. Opuni has been skewed to crucify the former CEO.
“Did he fix his own alary? and what was his predecessor receiving? What has been the standard practice” he indicated a more balanced discussion on salaries.
Nonetheless, the North Tongu MP decried the publishing of the public officer’s salary as unethical and morally wrong.
Okudzeto Ablakwa associated himself with comments made by former President John Agyekum Kufuor calling on Ghanaians not to be quick to pass judgement on the former CEO.
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