Abuga Pele speaks about jail time and how he was denied opportunity to confront accusers

Abuga Pele has been speaking about time spent in prison

He was jailed for six years

Pele was given presidential pardon

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on July 1, 2021, granted a presidential pardon to the former National Coordinator of the defunct Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), Abuga Pele on health grounds.


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Pele was serving a six-year jail term for causing financial loss to the state.

At the time of his pardon, he was admitted to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, formerly Ridge Hospital, for some health challenges and was in critical condition at the High Dependency Unit (HDU) of the hospital after he was taken there from the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison.

The former NDC MP for Chiana-Paga in the Upper East Region and a businessman, Philip Akpeena Assibit, were sentenced to a total of 18 years in prison on February 23, 2018, for their involvement in the GH¢4.1 million GYEEDA scandal.

The two were put before the court in 2014.

The court concluded that Pele entered into an unlawful agreement with Assibit, prevailing on the state to make payments when no work had been done.

He served about three years at the Nsawam Maximum Security Prison.

Incarceration

Abuga Pele has been speaking for the first time since his release from prison.

According to him, he was jailed because his party, the National Democratic Congress, NDC, wanted to make a case, that the then government was on top of the fight against corruption.

The former GYEEDA CEO described his conviction as a ‘cross’ that he had to carry because he did not benefit from the accusations.

“Even at one point, can you believe that prosecution forged a letter and when they gave it to me I realized that wasn’t my signature and I told them that this is not my signature.

"If you look at the signature column of the thing [letter] it numbered 5, meanwhile, that document was more than 12 pages. Meanwhile, there was another 5 below. So the judge asked for it and I gave it to her then she looked at it and kept it down. Can you believe that it did not even appear in our proceedings,” Abuga Pele recounted in an interview with Bolgatanga-based A1 Radio.

He added, “it was for one, to stem the barrage of criticisms on the then NDC government that they were corrupt, particularly on GYEEDA. That was how I felt and two, I think that because of the way I run the place [GYEEDA] by being very stubborn and won’t allow certain things to be done, investigating people and all that, I stepped on a lot of toes and so that might also contribute."

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Begging to confront his accusers but denied

Abuga Pele, further disclosed in the interview that, he never had the opportunity to confront persons who accused him of causing financial loss to the state, an accusation that landed him in prison.

“I don’t want to mention anybody’s name and I’ll never mention a name but I tried to get a hearing. I said let me confront my accusers, bring them face-to-face let me ask them questions and they also ask me questions and I’ll readily walk into jail myself but I was never given the opportunity,” he explained.

Pele stressed that claims of wrongdoing which happened under his watch as a GYEEDA boss were all under the supervision of the Minister of Employment.

He still cannot comprehend why he was singled out and jailed in a matter that involved other top officials he [Abuga Pele] had taken instructions from.

Abuga Pele said his crime as the GYEEDA boss was to sign a memo he never authored or instructed to be authored.

He noted that the signed memo eventually got him in trouble. “I’m in the middle of the ladder, so why will I be pulled out from the middle of the ladder and be prosecuted?”



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