Bright Wireko-Brobby
DAILY GUIDE has uncovered an attempt by the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Central Region to frustrate the efforts of Bright Wireko-Brobby to contest for the Hemang-Lower-Denkyira (HLD) Constituency seat on the ticket of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The NDC sees Mr. Wireko-Brobby as a threat to its candidate, Forster Andoh, and are therefore scheming behind the scenes to get a circuit court in Cape Coast to prolong a case involving the NPP candidate over fertilizer stealing allegation leveled against him by the DCE of the area, Francis Korankye Sekyi – even though the Attorney General says prosecution cannot be sustained.
As a result, the NDC has succeeded in getting the Attorney General’s Department to delay a fiat the department was supposed present to court exonerating the NPP candidate, so that it could drag the case until at least after the general election for its candidate – who is the incumbent MP – to have a smooth sail.
No Evidence
The fiat, reportedly prepared on June 3 at the AG’s Department (Prosecution Division), has advised the police to drop the charges because there was no evidence to sustain conviction of the NPP candidate and his 17 co-accused persons.
“There is nothing in the docket to show that he (Bright Wireko-Brobby) stole or conspired with any of the suspects to steal fertilizer. It cannot be said that any of the suspects dishonestly appropriated bags of fertilizer. There is no evidence to that effect in the docket.
“After carefully perusing the docket, it is my opinion that charges of conspiracy to steal and stealing cannot be sustained against any of the suspects. I do not recommend their prosecution,” the AG representative said.
Court Proceedings
The AG’s advice was supposed to be presented before the court, presided over by Kofi Seshie Amatewee last Wednesday, but a chief state attorney, John Ofori Tulasi, appeared before the judge to claim that the Central Regional Criminal Investigation Department (CID) received fresh evidence and they had asked the AG to hold on with the fiat as they prepared to present the new evidence for them to study and advise the court.
The chief state attorney therefore, pleaded with the court to adjourn the case until August 3, 2016 to enable them make the necessary additions.
Underhand Tactics
DAILY GUIDE has stumbled on a scheme plotted by some stalwarts of the NDC in the region to get the AG to rescind her already prepared advice to the police that there is no evidence to charge the NPP candidate and that the case would collapse if the prosecution persisted.
The diabolic plan was hatched on Monday by the NDC bigwigs in the region at about 3:22 pm.
One of the NDC gurus allegedly sent a message to the AG’s Department over the case to which the officer at the Department replied, “….will follow up on it please… Kindly text me title of case. So many cases (sic) and need specific title please.”
One powerful NDC man in the Hemang-Lower-Denkyira Distirct stated, “Please Hon. AG, do something about the FERTILIZER theft case at HEMANG-LOWER-DENKYIRA BEFORE THE VERDICT ON WEDNESDAY, WHICH THE NPP CANDIDATE IS CELEBRATING. My people are at my neck as if I prosecuted the case. We thought the case could tarry till after the elections, even if the state had a bad case.”
The man, who appeared to have initiated the whole move, said, “She has requested for the title of the case and has given an indication that she will look into it so please, drop the Case Title for her.”
The recipient replied with the case title: The State v Wireko-Brobbey & Ors (in a matter of Over 1,000 Cocoa fertilisers stolen from Cocobod), which is before the high court in Cape Coast.
The party wanted the AG’s intervention in looking into the case suspecting that “They may be one of the many ‘yaanom’ State Attorneys who worked on it so let’s be patient whiles Hon Marietta comes to our aid. At least, if truly the AG’s office has no interest in it as we are being told, then they can drag the issue till after the general election before discontinuing. Anyway, the AG and her team know best. Thank you Mama Marietta.”
Constituency Data
The HLD parliamentary seat is largely a traditional seat for the NPP until 2012 when the NDC snatched it with only 31 votes difference.
In the 2012 elections, the NDC’s Forster Andoh polled 13,178 votes as against NPP candidate Lawrence Agyensem’s 13,147.
By William Yaw Owusu