Akufo-Addo frees jailed NDC ex-MP

Mr. Abuga Pele, the former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Chiana Paga, who was sentenced to a six-year jail term in 2018, has been granted a presidential pardon by President Nana Akufo-Addo after the convict served three years.

Henceforth, the former MP would sleep in the comfort of his home and in the company of his family.

He was jailed after the courts found him guilty to have acted in a way that caused the state some financial loss to the tune of GH¢4.1 million

The presidential pardon granted Mr. Abuga Pele by Nana Addo on Republic Day July 1, 2021, was said to have been on health grounds.

The NDC leadership in the Chiana-Paga Constituency in the Upper East Region is reported to have welcomed the news and expressed gratitude to President Akufo-Addo.

While in jail, Abuga Pele was said to have taken ill and hospitalized.

His condition started to worsen and his family therefore went on a lobbying and pleading campaign along the corridors of power to get the President to grant him pardon.

Fortune smiled on them.

Mr. Abuga Pele worked as the National Coordinator of the now defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) and it was during his work as National Coordinator that he acted in a way the courts found to be unlawful and interpreted it as willfully causing financial loss.

It is recalled that in February 2018, the Financial and Economic Crimes Division of the Accra High Court, presided over by Mrs Justice Afia Serwaa Asare-Botwe, sentenced Abuga Pela and a businessman by name  Philip Akpeena Assibit, to a total of 18 years in prison for their involvement in what had become generally known by then as the GH¢4.1 million ‘GYEEDA scandal’.

The court found Philip Akpeena Assibit, the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group, guilty of making false claims that he had secured a $65-million World Bank funding for the creation of one million jobs for the youth, resulting in the government parting with GH¢4.1 million.

The court also found Abuga Pele guilty of acting in a manner that resulted in the loss of the amount to the state.

Abuga Pele had a lower sentence because there was no evidence that he personally benefitted from the amount that the state parted with.

Reports say the presidential pardon was granted on July 1, which was Republic Day but as at press time on Sunday night, the Presidency had not issued an official statement on it.