MPIANI TO BE CHARGED TODAY

Posted by Site Admin on June 5, 2009 at 11:54 am in Top Story

…as J.J. schemes for arrest of Kufuor man

Former Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani faces formal charges by the State today, the paper can state on authority.

BNI sources hinted TODAY that “it was clear after two days of interrogation that Mr. Mpiani has some answers to offer in the many incriminating findings established against him during his tenure as Minister of State”.

The former Minister, TODAY gathered is therefore expected to be arrested when he makes another appearance at the BNI headquarters today and charged accordingly. As the legal processes require, Mr. Mpiani will then need a surety bail before he could return home, spend some time with his family this weekend and brace himself up for the beginning of what observers believe will be “another marathon court proceedings”, anytime next week.

The summary of the charges the paper found out will be centered around Mr. Mpiani’s involvement in the operational duties at the Ghana @50 Secretariat and other issues relating to his tenure of office as Minister of State.

Mpiani’s two days ordeal at the BNI headquarters, TODAY’s hounds have established were masterminded by former President Rawlings, Brigadier Joseph Nunno-Mensah and one Gustav Adade, a retired veteran security operative who has forced his way back into the BNI by virtue of his association with the NDC party.

The three men ordered the detention Mr. Mpiani, when the former Minister willingly responded to an invitation by the BNI to help the outfit in its investigations into certain incriminating findings made against him by the Government Transitional Team.

Rawlings and his group, this paper gathered were miffed that Mr. Mpiani failed to respond to the BNI invitation last Monday and instead reported a day later. However it became obvious that the Mpiani detention was causing tension in the capital, Rawlings personally ordered for the release of the former Chief of Staff at about 11 pm last Tuesday.

TODAY discovered that Mr. Mpiani had in an earlier correspondence informed the BNI boss, Yaw Donkor of his inability to respond to the BNI invitation on the stipulated Monday, June 1st, and therefore will be available the next day, Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009.

The request, we found out, was granted by the BNI boss. True to his word, Mr. Mpiani went to the BNI headquarters on day that he had assured the BNI. Indeed as TODAY has found out one major issue that Mr. Mpiani will battle will be the manner he handled the Ghana @50 Secretariat that was established by the Kufuor administration to supervise the Golden Jubilee celebration of Ghana’s 50th anniversary in 2007.

The intended court action had been necessitated by the final report of the Don-Arthur led Government Transitional Team that investigated the conduct of helmsmen at the Secretariat and the general operational duties that were carried out.

Mr. Mpiani is expected to give account of how a $12.9 million that was spent on the publication of souvenir Ghana @50 books to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Ghana as a Nation-State.

Majority of the said books, according to the Don-Arthur committee are currently locked up at the Information Services Department offices in the country, with the amount realized so far, way below the amount spent on the production of the books.

According to the committee, out of the $12.9 million spent on the production of the Golden Jubilee Souvenir books, only $378, 000 has so far been realized. This is because the souvenir books did not arrive at the expected time or period and only came after the Golden Jubilee celebration.

Patrons have being complaining about the cover price for both the hard and soft covers. The cover price for the hard cover is GH¢15, while the soft cover price is GH¢7. The books contain the rich cultural heritage of the country, the country’s political history, the importance of the geographical location of the country and the various ecological systems that run through.

The committee also noted that the rest of the books are mainly locked up at a condemned office of the Greater Accra Information Service Department where some 2,181 boxes of the books are locked up. The books were brought in July 2007 after the Golden Jubilee celebration, with no directives as to what was to be done with the books.

Some 32, 965 units of the hard cover books and 81, 332 of the soft cover component have been stored at the Ministry of Information and the Information Service Training Centre at the French Embassy area in Accra.

The committee also noted that although huge sums of dollars were spent on the provision of toilet facilities throughout the country, in commemoration of the occasion, only one of the facilities was completed in the Volta Region.

It turned out that, as the Don Arthur committee disclosed, are being used by street hawkers and porters as sleeping places and habitation. The process and modalities for the distribution of vehicles imported in connection with the occasion, the committee stated are still shrouded in secrecy.

The 139 vehicles that were imported for the celebration are believed to have been distributed among functionaries of the former administration, thus resulting in the wanton search for the vehicles by the security detail, some of which had led to seizure of private vehicles of some former functionaries of the Kufuor administration.

The vehicles imported by the Secretariat included latest class model Benz Salon Cars, Jaguars and other exotic and the latest cars that run into thousands of dollars. The cars were imported on behalf of government by the Fairlip, a motor company and according to information government was yet to pay the company.

Management of Fairloop has since petitioned the new government to help them retrieve some of the cars and sell them to off set their debts.

Source: TODAY Newspaper