Call on Mumuni to step aside is ploy — Group

A group calling itself ‘Concerned National Democratic Congress (NDC) Youth’ has said the recent call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni to step aside and clear his name of allegation against him was a ploy to distract President J. E. A. Mills administration from implementing the promises made in its manifesto.
Consequently, they have called on the President to ignore what they term “diversionary antics of the New Patriotic Party and concentrate on the task of responding to the legitimate concerns of the people who offered him the mandate to rule”.
The spokesperson for the group, Mr Ridwan Abubakar said this at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday.
He described the call on the minister to resign as a sinister NPP agenda to unsettle the new NDC administration and a conspiracy against Alhaji Mumuni.
Explaining why the group believed that it was all a ploy, he alleged that less than 24 hours after Alhaji Mumuni had submitted a statement to the CID headquarters concerning the allegations in January 2004, a private newspaper told Alhaji Mumuni that they were aware of his invitation and that they had a copy of the statement he made to the CID.
He added that contrary to best auditing practices, the accounting firm contracted by the auditor general failed to invite Alhaji Mumuni regarding what the auditors’ claim to be unusual and questionable in the books of NVTI.
He said, although, the auditors claimed that they invited Alhaji Mumuni through the speaker, the speaker in a memorandum made it clear that his office had never received any letter inviting Alhaji Mumuni to answer any queries.
Mr Abubakar noted that at a press conference on May 19, 2004, Alhaji Mumuni debunked the auditors’ assertion and charges against him and informed the media about the existence of letters and documents which the auditors claimed never existed.
He said because Alhaji Mumuni told the press that such letters existed and that the then Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, Mr Yaw Barimah was the one who gave him copies, the office of Mr Barimah was burgled and the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of the minister’s computer with backups were stolen.
“The coincidence of these events is indeed very unusual and the only rational conclusion we can arrive at is that this was part of the clumsy conspiracy to erase crucial evidence which would expose the sinister plans of the conspirators,” he alleged.
Mr Abubakar pledged the group’s full support for Alhaji Mumuni and to?? “ assure him that the rank and file members will ???stand by him in his legitimate quest to clear his name and maintain his integrity”.
He added that the group would commit itself to fight to defend the NDC against the machinations of the party’s opponents who “ harbour sinister intentions of making the country ungovernable and obstruct the efforts of the new NDC Administrations to settle down to the task of governing the country that has been mismanaged and looted for the past eight years”.