The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Martin Amidu’s press statement On Tuesday, 17th January 2012 exposed government’s effort to cover up on the stinking payment of public money to a self-confessed NDC financier Mr. Alfred Woyome. The Auditor General reported to parliament that in 2010, the NDC government paid out GH¢58 million (¢580 billion) in the so –called judgment debt to Mr. Woyome. The report stated that the first payment was done on 4th June 2010 (GH¢41.8 or ¢ 418 billion) and the second payment done on the 26th of September 2010 (GH¢17.0 or ¢170 billion). The above mentioned report came out last October 2011. In the first week of January 2012, it came to light that government had made additional payments of GH¢34m (¢340 billion) to Mr. Woyome, bringing total payments of GH¢92.8m (¢928 billion) to Mr. Woyome alone, comprising GH¢41.8m; (June 2010); GH17m (September 2010); GH10m (January 2011); GH10m (April 2011) and GH¢14m (August 2011), all to Mr. Woyome. The report of payments totalling GH¢92.8m (GH¢928 billion) seems to have triggered a belated effort by government to throw dust into our eyes on the total amount paid to Woyome. The President in this controversy ordered EOCO to investigate the Woyome matter. The call to EOCO had earlier been made by Mr. Woyome himself, and his spokesmen. The order by the Executive to an agency under the Executive to investigate payments by the executive to a self-confessed NDC financier started the perception of a cover up by government, especially when the agency was asked to investigate not the whole affair, but only aspects related to the previous government, so called liability. Shortly after the news of total payments of GH¢92.8 (GH¢928 billion) and not GH¢58million to Mr. Alfred Woyome, government officials began putting out information of a sudden discovery to the effect that, the total payments to Mr. Woyome was not GH¢92.8million, neither was it GH¢58million, but GH51.2 million (GH¢512 billion). This was followed shortly by a letter from the office of the Auditor General that indeed the first payment of GH¢41.8m (June 2010) was not effected. These statements worsened the deep public perception of a government cover up. Many questions have arisen: 1. Since the Auditor General’s report to parliament in October 2011, of payments totalling GH¢58million, how come it was only in January 2012 that both government and the Auditor General discovered that the payment of GH¢41.8m (June 2010) did not take place and hence the total payments were not GH¢92.8 nor GH¢58 million BUT GH¢51.2 million? 2. Does the Auditor General report to Parliament expenditure that is in transit or expenditure that is final? 3. The Auditor General’s letter, denying his own report of the June 10, 2010 payment (of GH¢41.8 million) indicated that the payment voucher/cheque were issued and withdrawn/ cancelled in April 2010. This is clearly before the court’s default judgment in May 2010. This means, even before Mr. Woyome had gone to court, President Mills government without any EOCO investigation was negotiating to pay Mr. Woyome millions of tax payers’ money, and this was not brought to the knowledge of the court! 4. The A-G stated in his letter that the GH41.8m payments were stopped in April 2010. So how come he reported on it, in June 2010 when the payment was supposed to have been stopped in April 2010? 5. All letters of this affair from the AG to the Minister of Finance and vice-versa were all copied to the office of the President ,so how come the President said he did not know and is now calling for investigation?. And if the President really did not know, or was not briefed, what else is our President not told about? 6. How come after the court had granted the government a stay of execution on the GH¢34m on September 6, 2010, the government still went ahead and paid the GH¢34m in 2011? As these suspicions of cover up and questions were agitating the public’s mind then comes Mr. Amidu’s press release of how he was being hounded and attacked by a colleague cabinet minister so that the “gargantuan crimes” will not be exposed. This seems to have put finality on the deep public suspicion of a cover up in the Woyome pay-out, as the Woyome payout is by all considerations, a “gargantuan pay-out” unless of course there is an even bigger scandal that the public does not know of yet! The question to pose to Ghanaians is “what kind of leadership is being offered by President Mills in the light of all these happenings”? We conclude on the decline of former NPP ministers to take part in the EOCO investigation. This decline is not because the NPP officials have anything to hide. The decline arises from the suspicion that, EOCO may be used as part of deeply suspected cover up actions in this Woyome affair. The officials are fully ready to take part in an enquiry/investigation that would be conducted in public by an independent body, and this is what the bi-partisan Public Accounts Committee of Parliament offers. In the meantime, we join all Ghanaians to demand to know which minister is involved in the cover up of which “gargantuan” crime. The NPP and Ghanaians want nothing less than the whole truth in this Woyome pay-out.! Signed: Hon. Nana Akomea Communications Director, NPP