Mahama Ayariga
The Office of the Special Prosecutor is reportedly ‘struggling’ to make contact with its first prosecution witness in the trial of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, and six others.
The witness was scheduled to give his evidence-in-chief before an Accra High Court yesterday where Mr. Ayariga and the other accused persons are standing trial for alleged breaches of law in the purchase of an ambulance for the Bawku Municipal Assembly.
But the prosecutor, Michael Baafi, told the court presided by Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe that as of 8:00 p.m. last Saturday, he had not heard from the witness who had earlier told him that he was on his way to Accra from the Upper East Region.
He said the prosecution had made all arrangements for the witness’s travel as well as his accommodation in Accra.
He told the court that the witness had earlier told him that his mother was indisposed and he was the one taking care of her at the hospital.
According to him, he spoke to the witness last Saturday and he told him that he was at the bus terminal.
He said he later called the witness who said he was on his way to Accra but as of 8:00 p.m. that day he called the witness again and all his phones were switched off.
Mr. Baafi could not give a reason why the witness was still not in Accra.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said it was taking steps to subpoena the witness to come and testify.
Due to the absence of the witness, the court and the lawyers in the matter came to a conclusion that the case could not effectively reach a ‘terminal’ point before the legal year concludes at the end of July.
Justice Asare-Botwe who was not happy with the turn of events said she had cleared her cause list to make way for the witness who was scheduled to testify for close to five hours.
Mr. Baafi then wanted to make arrangements for their second prosecution witnesses to testify since the first one was not readily available.
But Justice Asare-Botwe asked if the witness was prepared to testify for about five hours to which the prosecutor answered in the negative.
The judge then stated that she did not want to be the one to force the prosecution to put a witness in the box and both the prosecution and the defence agreed to come back on October 13, 2020 for the case to proceed.
Main Trial
The Bawku NDC MP is before the court together with six others over charges relating to the purchase of an ambulance for the Bawku Municipal Assembly.
The other suspects in the case include Hajia Hawa Ninchema, Sumaila Ewuntomah Abudu, Alex Vadze, Alhaji Abdul-Mumuni Jesewunde, Mary Stellla Adapesa and Mumuni Yakubu Nambe.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak