NPP’s Samuel Awuku showing the document alleging payment from NYEP
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) yesterday unveiled the names, identities and bank accounts of journalists who have allegedly been engaged by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to help them win the 2012 general elections.
The names of the journalists have been added to the National Youth Employment (NYEP) payroll and distributed to various media houses, particularly state-owned media ostensibly to give it credibility in order to elude the prying eyes of auditors whenever the accounts of the NYEP is audited.
The NPP considers this action of the government as a gross abuse of power, corruption, and blatant abuse of public money (NYEP). According to the party’s director of Communications, Nana Akomea, “The aim of this disgraceful corruption and diversion of NYEP funds is so as to get the targeted journalists to slant their reports and stories to favour the NDC government and thus deprive Ghanaians the benefit of fair and accurate reporting from even the state/public media.”
Coming at a time when according to the NPP, beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme are not having regular payments, genuine NYEP beneficiaries have not been paid for months, and national infrastructure is in a sorry state, the party believes that this intention of the government does not only undermine press freedom, but also thwarts fair reporting through what it describes as a the shameful diversion of public funds.
The NDC has vehemently denied the story, saying that it was concocted.
However, some of the journalists including Joy FM’s Joseph Osei Owusu have confirmed that NYEP appointment letters were given to them, saying that Samuel Abaane the Enquirer reporter, gave them the letters.
Abaane, who is considered the hatchet man of the NDC’s propaganda job, had earlier denied any link with the scam.
The NPP wants a further investigation into the issue and has since indicated its preparedness to lodge a formal complaint at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate.
The Joy FM reporter told DAILY GUIDE yesterday that he rejected the offer and that he had not drawn any money from the bank account since he never wanted to be part of any such scheme because he was already in the employ of his radio station.
Osei was registered as a staff of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) when indeed he is gainfully employed with the Multi-Media Group.
For these and other reasons, the NPP believes Deputy Information Minister Baba Jamal “is increasingly cutting a perception for himself as not credible” and urged him to desist from doing so since it did not inure to the benefit of government and the country at large.
Jamal has been struggling to deny the audio recording, saying that it was computer-generated, pre-empting that he was a victim of a set-up.
“These events are unfortunate. If he denies the voice is not his, fine, time will tell, but we disagree with his claim that all this is a plot. In addition to the voices, we have shown you a copy of one of the appointment letters, account numbers etc…” Nana Akomea said.
Baba Jamal is on record to have told public servants to embellish and distort news and information to favour the Mills/Mahama administration.
He told staff of the Information Services Department that their job was to embellish government even when it was at fault, saying that if government bought a sheep, they should say it was cow.
He has been threatening to sue media houses that attributed the voice on the tape to him, barely 24hours after details of the potentially scandalous recording of the ‘secret’ meeting allegedly between him and some selected journalists in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region started emerging.
On that recording, a voice which sounds like his was heard telling the journalists of government’s decision to engage them as interns on the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), with the promise of paying them monthly allowances to the tune of GH¢160.00 beginning from June 1, 2011 to June 1, 2013.
Though Baba Jamal has denied being the one whose voice is on the recording because of his claim of having stabilized the Information Ministry, the NPP decided to come out with the list of 15 top beneficiaries, one of whom was Samuel Abaane of the Enquirer newspaper.
Abaane is believed to have been the link between government and the journalists who did not only organise the ‘secret’ meeting at which they (the journalists) were recruited to do the government’s bidding but was the one who issued them with their supposed appointment (internship) letters.
Other beneficiaries included Gifty Amoshie of A1 Radio, Abotiyine Akayete with account number 10743-53361/11, Felix Dagba Lambert of URA/Radio Ghana, Sophia Kumi, also of URA/Radio Ghana, Foster Aggor of Style FM with the account number 10743-5323/11 and Samuel Akapule of the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
The rest included one Osmand of Word FM, Joseph Osei Owusu of Joy FM with account number 10743-5333/11, William Jalula Nsarebor of The Chronicle newspaper with account number 10743-5323/11, Madam Fati of GNA, Abdul Hamid of the Daily Graphic with account number 1073-5361/11, one Alhaji of the Ghanaian Times, Abraham Dimie also of Radio Ghana and one Abdula Issaka of Metro TV with account number 10743-5346/11.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu