FLASHBACK: Catherine Abelema Afeku being introduced by President Akufo-Addo
The Appointments Committee of Parliament will today begin the vetting of Catherine Abelema Afeku, appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to become the Minister of Tourism and Creative Arts.
Many have tipped Mrs Afeku who is the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Evalue-Gwira in the Western Region to endear herself before the vetting committee, but others are of the view that a protracted civil litigation between the minister-designate and her American business partners might feature prominently in the all-important exercise.
A group calling itself Truth and Accountable Governance (TAG) brought the litigation issue to the fore when Mrs Afeku was nominated by President Akufo-Addo by claiming that the minister-designate was not the right person for the ministry and wanted the nomination to be revoked.
However, Mrs Afeku shot back at her ‘detractors’, saying, “What is important is that having a civil case is totally different from having a criminal case. I have been cleared by Article 94 in 2006 to be a member of parliament; I have been cleared again in 2015 to be a member of parliament.”
To prove he case, her lawyer personally wrote to President Akufo-Addo to set the records straight and assured the president that Mrs Afeku is ‘clean’ per the facts of the case.
The lawyer has personally written to President Akufo-Addo to explain the circumstances of the issue, initiated by two Americans against Mrs Afeku and her husband, Seth.
The letter written on January 19 by Lawyer Dame to President Akufo-Addo said there was no finding of fraud or criminality against Mrs Afeku and her husband after the Gicks family had sued them over the shareholding of a company the two partners entered into.
He said in October 2013, he received instructions Mrs Afeku regarding fresh evidence which had come into her possession, and which affected the legitimacy of the judgement earlier entered against her.
Lawyer Dame said the fresh evidence was in respect of a video recording a witness in the case confessing that the plaintiffs had conspired together with an Nzema called Francis Nokoe to plot a cause of action against the minister-designate.
He said he found the evidence credible and filed a fresh action on November 22, 2013 in the High Court, Accra, against the Americans, the son of the plaintiffs who was the witness and Mr Nokoe to set aside the initial judgement.
“The lawyer said he proceeded to file an application for an order restraining the enforcement of the earlier judgement of November 30, 2007 until the final determination of the case and it was granted on March 5, 2014 by Justice Bright Mensah.
“The suit has been pending in court since, with the various pre-trial processes completed. Same was ready to be heard in November, 2016, when the defendants made an application to submit the video recording for forensic examination,” saying, “We are awaiting the report from the Police Forensic Laboratory.”
Lawyer Dame told President Akufo-Addo that the explanation he had given “constitutes the full and accurate record of the facts in the matter between Hon Catherine Afeku and the American citizens.”
By William Yaw Owusu