[dropcap]M[/dropcap]r. William Nyarko, Executive Director of research and education think tank, Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) and multiple award-wining investigative journalist has rubbished former President Jerry John Rawlings’ claims that the $2million gift he received from Gen. Sani Abacha, former president of Nigeria was used for ‘nationalistic purposes’.
[ads1]The former President Rawlings who was addressing a gathering at the 38th Anniversary of the June 4, 1979, uprising held in Wa, Upper West Regional on Sunday said that he used the $2 million gift from General for the benefit of all Ghanaians.
He said it was not channeled into consumption as some have claimed but rather it was used to bolster sectors of the economy that were weak.
[In 1998 when the money came in], “I used it for nationalistic purposes [and] my comrades in those days knew about it,” he noted.
However, reacting to Mr. Rawlings’ comment on his Facebook page, Mr. Nyarko who was the investigative journalist with the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper that broke the story, rubbished Mr. Rawlings’ claims saying that if the money was meant for Ghana, it would have been given to the state, recorded and made public.
“None of that happened.Instead you admitted taking the money in 2016 on the blindside of the public in your private quarters, after repeatedly denying taking even $1 in 1998, and saying to those of us who exposed the illegal taking as [people whose actions] “lack foundation in common sense”. The briefcase the money was brought in, in 1998 is still in your possession, you stated last year.”
He challenged Rawlings to provide evidence that the money was used for “nationalistic purposes.”
Read Mr. Nyarko comment:
Lol Papa Jerry gyae saa. You took the money for yourself, not for Ghana’s benefit. If the money was meant for Ghana, it would have been given to the Bank of Ghana, recorded, and made public. None of that happened. Instead you admitted taking the money in 2016 on the blindside of the public in your private quarters, after repeatedly denying taking even $1 in 1998, and saying to those of us who exposed the illegal taking as [people whose actions] “lack foundation in common sense”. The briefcase the money was brought in, in 1998 is still in your possession, you stated last year. Chai!
Please show us the public record of the national projects or Ghanaians whom the money was used to support.
#nyarkostake
