John Dramani Mahama, the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has stated that if elected president in December, he will not hesitate to order any of his officials involved in mining activities to quit.

According to the former President, his appointees would be obliged to focus on their primary mission of improving the country.

Speaking at the 3rd Annual Transformational Dialogue on Small-scale Mining at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Sunyani, John Mahama stated that none of his appointees will participate in galamsey.

Mr Mahama pledged that if elected president, he would establish a sustainable mining scheme in all mining communities that differs from the current community mining scheme and will heavily involve traditional leadership in the granting of licences to help regulate mining activities.

“It will vary in every way from the current community mining plan, which has indisputably become a conduit for enriching party chairmen, DCEs, and other politically connected persons.

“Indeed, under my administration, if you are a minister, a DCE, or an official and engage in mining activities, I will request that you quit and go mining. You can either be a governmental official or a businessman running a mine.

Daniel Osei Kuffuor, the husband of former Sanitation Minister Cecilia Abena Dapaah, told the High Court in Accra that he was “shocked” and “surprised” to find that one of her former housekeepers, Sarah Agyei, masterminded the alleged theft of money from them.

Sarah Agyei, he claims, was quite dependable during her five-year tenure as a housekeeper.

He was surprised, however, when investigations revealed that she, along with the other accused, masterminded the deed.

On May 3, Mr. Osei Kuffuor, 85, a Professional Architect with over 50 years of expertise, stated this while under cross-examination by counsel for Sarah Agyei, the second accused.

Augustine Gyamfi, Counsel for the Second Accused, stated that his client had been a loyal housekeeper for the Complainants (Cecilia Dapaah and her husband) and questioned why she should be associated with the incident.

In his statement, Mr. Osei Kuffuor, the first of the six Prosecution Witnesses, stated that he was astonished when investigations showed Sarah Agyei’s connection to the other defendants.

“I was astonished to learn that they were related. Because I had no suspicions for the previous five years, I was surprised to learn that she was involved in this case,” Mr Osei Kuffour told the court.

When asked by Counsel if he was astonished and “still did not believe” that the 2nd Accused was engaged in the affair, Mr Kuffuor, who was testifying as the first prosecution witness, responded, “Now that I have had all the information, I know that she is even a part of it and she was even the mastermind.”

While questioning the Witness, Counsel argued that the Witness had no information that his client (Sarah Agyei) masterminded the conduct, and that if he had such information, “you would have stated it clearly in black and white in your witness statement.”

The Witness said, “I have the information,” and that “at the time of the theft, I never imagined that A2 (Sarah Agyei) was the mastermind.”

Mr Tuffour said, “I have been in several interrogations when they were together, and I know what I heard.”

Counsel then inquired as to “which interrogation” he was present for.

The Witness then stated, “About one, two, or three,” adding, “We were just visiting and were called in.”

The Witness stated to the Court, “One occasion after A2 (Sarah Agyei) had been apprehended by the police and they were even going to the premises, and so on, we followed them.”

“We knew what was happening,” he said,” adding that, “We took interest in what was happening.”

The Witness consequently disagreed with Counsel for Sarah Agyei’s suggestion that the 2nd Accused “never involved herself in this theft,” and that, “she had been a faithful house help working for you (Witness).

Allegation

Counsel for the A2 (Sarah Agyei) said his client (Sarah Agyei) was arraigned because of the Witness’s allegations that the stolen money was shared amongst some people

“You see, one time during a search at the house, there was my wife’s jewelry box in the house and my wife said this is my jewelry box and A2 said she found the box in a garbage bin in our house and she liked it and she took it,” the Witness said.

“It was part of the jewelry stolen from our house,” he said, adding that, “We found this in her house.”

It was the case of Counsel for the 2nd Accused that, the said jewelry box was thrown away by “your wife (Cecilia Dapaah) after they had cleaned her room and asked your wife whether she can keep it.”

But the Witness, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, disagreed.

“I can tell you that nobody cleaned that bedroom/storeroom. My wife herself entered that room. Nobody was allowed to clean that room,” he told the Court.

Abandoned Jewelry box

It was the case of Lawyer Gyemfi that, after several searches at A2’s (Sarah Agyei) house, he (Witness) could not find any jewelry of Cecilia Dapaah in the 2nd Accused house.

But, the Witness said, “It was only one visit that we were there that we found this abandoned jewelry box in her house.”

The Witness,  however, said “I did not hear that,” when they went with the police the first day to A2’s house, “her own kente cloth that she used for her engagement, your wife (Cecilia Dapaah) claimed it was her kente cloth.

Further Cross-examination continues.

Breakdown of stolen cash

On May 3, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, the husband of former sanitation Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah gave a breakdown of monies stolen from their storeroom by their house to help Patience Botwe and six others.

The 85-year-old Professional Architect with 53 years of experience said the accused persons stole two sets of $210, 000 and $200, 000 from their storeroom.

In addition to the dollars, he said another set of £300,000 belonging to him and GHc300,000 being contributions that Cecilia Dapaah’s siblings made towards the funeral of her late mother were also stolen.

“Subsequently, my wife and I found out that some of our valuables as well as huge sums of money had been stolen from the storeroom.

“This included an amount of 210,000 US Dollars which belonged to my wife’s deceased brother, Nana Akwasi Essan II alias Charles Dapaah,” he said.

Other monies he said were stolen from their storeroom were: “Two Hundred Thousand US Dollars ($200,000 USD) belonging to Dorcas Wiredua, my niece who is also my client.

“Three Hundred Thousand Euros (£300,000) belonging to me,” and “Three Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHc300,000) being contributions that my wife’s siblings and her made towards the funeral of her late mother. Fifty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHc50,000) belonging to my wife,” he stated.

Charges

Patience Botwe, 18, and Sarah Agyei, 30, together with Benjamin Sowah, Malik Dauda, Christiana Achab, Job Pomary, and Yahaya Sumaila have all denied the various charges pressed against them – ranging from Conspiracy to steal, stealing, dishonestly receiving, and money laundering.

Despite being granted bail, they cannot meet their respective bail conditions and are still in lawful custody.

Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Minister of Finance, has once again guaranteed the public that the economy will recover strongly.

He also mentioned that inflation has significantly decreased in recent months, indicating that the economy is on the right track to recovery.

Speaking as the special guest of honour at the Health Sector Annual Summit 2024, Dr Adam expressed confidence that inflation will continue to fall and be much lower by the end of the year.

“The economy is rebounding strongly, and as the manager of the economy, I can assure you that our recovery is quite robust. We face tremendous problems, yet the future seems increasingly promising.

“As a result of the policies we enacted, economic growth has been stronger than expected. We increased at 2.9% instead of the projected 1.5% growth rate last year [2023].

“The signals of growth in the statistics also indicate that this year will be robust, so when I say the economy is strong, I mean it. Inflation has likewise been declining, having peaked at 54% at the end of 2022 and falling to 25% a year later.

“We are aiming to guarantee that inflation reaches 15% before the end of the year. And by the end of 2027, inflation will be a single digit.