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We may allow witnesses to cross-examine themselves – Atta Akyea
Samuel Atta Akyea, the chairman of the parliamentary committee probing the leaked tape on the plot to oust the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare, has said that the committee is considering allowing witnesses to cross-examine themselves.
“We are looking at it critically,” Atta Akyea said in an interview on Citi Eyewitness News. “Why not, at the end of the day here you are for the first time you are facing your accuser. What questions do you want to ask your accuser? And who will run away from the one who is trying to embarrass him without asking him very pertinent questions which will inure to his innocence.”
“So these are the areas that we are looking at critically and then we might want to say that well go ahead and ask him all the questions in the world and when you have any counter-viewing evidence bring it across,” he added.
Meanwhile, the committee has ordered the National Security Minister, Kan Dapaah to appear before it on Wednesday for further investigations.
The former Northern Regional Chairman of the NPP, Bugri Naabu has also been asked to reappear before the committee on Wednesday, September 13.
At the end of the proceedings, Mr Akyea said all witnesses must appear with their lawyers on Wednesday for continuation of sittings.
“The witnesses should come back tomorrow with their lawyers. The IGP should come with his lawyers, the Minister of National Security should show up with his lawyers and proceedings will continue,” he stated.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
