Shut up! – Asiedu Nketia tells NPP

 

The General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia has told the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to hold their tongue on matters relating to the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Private Equity Fund.

According to him, allegations being bandied about by the party that President John Dramani Mahama played a role in facilitating a Merchant Bank loan to his brother’s company, Engineers and Planners (E&P) “are not reasonable for the ordinary person to accept.”

Speaking on Radio Gold in Accra, Mr Asiedu Nketia alleged that if anyone could influence the disbursement of the loan to Engineers and Planners, then it could be former President John Agyekum Kufuor; Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, a founding member of the NPP; Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, former Chief of Staff; or the then Minister of Finance, Dr Osei Akoto.

“Going by their own Bible, then the person who could have influenced the loan was President Kufuor because he was president at that time," he said, explaining that a deeper appreciation of the family links of the CEO of E&P, Mr Ibrahim, it would be realized that perhaps the NPP is on the way to tell the truth about something they know.

He alleged that the late mother of Mr Ibrahim Mahama, Madam Joyce Abla Tamakloe, had close ties with former President Kufuor and thus it was possible that her relationship with him could have stimulated the loan process.

He further asserted that Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, an in-law of Mr Ibrahim Mahama and the latter's uncle Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, another NPP bigwig, could have also played an influential role.

“Mr Ibrahim’s mother, one Madam Tamakloe until her death was a very strong member of the NPP and the role that President Kufuor played in her burial confirmed that she was very close to the former president. So, if Ibrahim’s mother was very close to President Kufuor and the NPP are telling us that it is possible for a president to influence a loan, so which president then influenced that loan?” he asked.

“We also know that another very important leading member of the NPP who is related to Mr Ibrahim is Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, who is the direct uncle of Mr Ibrahim and by all standards he was a power broker in the NPP. And so if it was possible for any government functionary or power broker in a sitting government to influence loans to E&P, then clearly, you cannot side-step these people and blame other people.

“The then Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, is also an in-law to Mr Ibrahim, so again If you have the Chief of Staff in your court, the president in your court, and the then Minister of Finance, Mr Osei Akoto, sitting on the board who took the decision to grant the loan, then where is the influence?” Mr Asiedu Nketia inquired.

He accused the NPP of fabricating and peddling lies in the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz and the deliberate attempt to involve President Mahama in the allocation of the US$38 million loan facility to Engineers and Planners and the subsequent takeover of the bank.

“The story that says that President Mahama has a hand in Engineers and Planners securing the loan is totally false unless there is some other information which is available to other people which is not available to me. And I will want to call on anybody who has any other information to contradict what I am saying to bring it up in the national interest so we raise the debate and get a settlement on this issue,” he said.

Mr Asiedu Nketia maintained that President Mahama played no role in advancing the loan to Engineers and Planners, noting that, “We are saying that there was nothing like that, it happened during your time and so you are the best people to tell us whether there was influence or no influence but assuming that you are saying that there was influence, where was the influence likely to have come from?”

“I am not accusing NPP of influence; I am not accusing E&P of benefiting from anything that they were not entitled to. But I am saying that NPP should shut up because they are alleging things that are not reasonable for the ordinary person to accept,” he empahsised.