A former Sports Minister, Mallam Ali Yusif Issah, is claiming Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo showed gross disrespect for President John Agyekum Kufuor by prosecuting him in 2001 despite an intervention by the former president.
According to Mallam Issah, though former President Kufour was doubtful he [Mallam Issah] stole the 46,000-dollar bonuses for the Black Stars, Akufo-Addo went ahead to prosecute him leading to his incarceration.
“When Akufo-Addo said I should be put before court, President Kufuor told him that he doesn’t think Mallam Issah had taken the money,” he said on 3FM Wednesday.
Mallam Issah, was handed a four-year jail term in 2001 for causing financial loss to the State regarding the missing $46,000 bonuses for the Black Stars. He was in 2003 granted a presidential pardon on grounds of ill-health.
Speaking on 3FM’s morning show, Sunrise, Mallam Issah claimed: “Akuffo Addo has no respect for President Kufuor because he thought he (Akufo-Addo) was a better President than Kufuor and that is the bitter truth so he had no respect for him.
“Kufuor told him he believed that I had done a lot to bring the NPP to power so why did he think I should be the person to go to prison” he added.
According to Mallam Issah even though former Black Stars captain, Abedi Pele offered to repay the money so that the prosecution would be halted, Nana Akufo-Addo rejected that idea.
“It was difficult to get Akufo-Addo because he didn’t make himself available for them to meet him. He came to court to prosecute me himself and it was only there that I saw him,” Mallam Issah said.
He added:“My lawyer, Ambrose Dery, did everything possible to get Akufo- Addo to sit for them to look at it but it never happened so I told my lawyer to forget about him because he is not God”.
Nana Afrane Asante|3news.com|Ghana
