‘Agyapa Special Prosecutor’ Will Be A Yes-Man …Kufour Foundation CEO Warns

Former Special Prosecutor, Martin Amidu’s alert that Kissi Agyebeng, the man nominated for the Office of the Special Prosecutor will be a poodle has been re-echoed by the Chief Executive Officer of the John Agyekum Kufuor Foundation.

Professor Baffour Agyemang-Duah agrees that the relationships that connect Agyebeng to the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, who nominated him and the nature of Agyebeng’s acquaintance with Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, powerful cousin of President Akufo-Addo will make him a yes-man.

 “We all know that Gabby is a strong pillar in this government – and that he [Agyebeng] has been in cases defending certain things and all. If you take all that into account, then you are compelled to raise serious doubts about his capacity to perform because if I take his relationships into account, then my answer immediately will be that he will be easily influenced by authority and that brings the issue of conflict of interest if, in fact, he has dabbled in the Agyapa deal as a defendant or employer or working for the government or the Attorney General”, Prof Agyemang-Duah argued.

His argument points towards the same direction as that Mr. Martin Amidu who analyses in a write-up that Godfred Dame and Gabby Otchere Darko had connived to nominate Agyebeng their classmate as the new SP so that Agyebeng will protect their interests.

Godfred Dame is the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, while Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko is President Akufo Addo’s cousin and chief advisor, also described as the “Prime Minister”.

These interests, Mr. Amidu writes, are vested in the Agyapa Mineral Royalties deal which was the subject of serious scandal in December last year, especially after Amidu who was then SP, had concluded a corruption risk assessment that said the deal was tainted with corruption.

Agyebeng, as revealed by Amidu, was a classmate to Godfred Dame who nominated him for the SP job and Gabby Asare Otchere Darko at the University of Ghana Law School and the Ghana School of Law.

They were also personal friends and have pursued similar political and economic interest with Agyebeng’s fingers said to have been deep in the Agyapa mineral royalties pie.

Even though the 2020 elections had produced a near-hung Parliament with the National Democratic Congress MPs vowing not to allow Agyapa pass, the NDC MPs are no longer trusted because of shocking losses that they have incurred in Parliament.

 And so, President Akufo-Addo’s announcement that the scandalous Agyapa deal will still be returned to Parliament for consideration presents a real danger that the deal can pass. Having institutions like the SPO backing the deal would be necessary to edge it past Parliament hence the nomination of Agyebeng, a friend and colleague of Gabby, whose Law firm, Africa Legal Associates is deeply involved in the Agyapa corruption scandal.

Mr. Martin Amidu points out that to force the President’s hand into accepting the nomination of Agyebeng, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko’s radio station, Asaase started a full-blown propaganda, using Amidu as propulsion.

Godfred Dame himself made sure to make his nomination of Agyebeng known to the public without allowing the President and Cabinet, the decency of weighing the nomination, Amidu charged.

All of these tactics are aimed to get the President to rush Agyebeng in place as the new SPO so that the Agyapa dirty deal can be re-sparked, Amidu seemed to imply.

According to Prof. Baffour Agyemang-Duah, he agrees that though Mr. Kissi Agyebeng is qualified, his involvement with the almighty Gabby Otchere Darko and the AG, will not make him independent.

Meanwhile, a New Patriotic Party lawyer, Gary Nimako, has been reported as saying that Agyebeng has personally told him that he has had no involvement whatsoever in the Agyapa deal.