Adom-Otchere claps back at Togbe Afede with evidence of attendance at Council of State meetings

Paul Adom-Otchere, the host of Good Evening Ghana, GEG, was trending on social media portal Twitter, after he criticised Togbe Afede XIV on his show for refunding what he [Togbe Afede] described as ‘inappropriate’ ex-gratia paid into his account at the end of his term as a Council of State member.

He

Read full article.received backlash from people who believe that what the traditional ruler did was in the right direction and also those who believe that he [Adom-Otchere] used his show to disrespect the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, President of Asogli Traditional Area.

Speaking during the ‘touchscreen’ segment on the Thursday edition of Good Evening Ghana, Adom-Otchere alluded to the fact that he has respect for tradition and traditional rulers at large.

He noted that, Togbe Afede XIV in a WhatsApp conversation had challenged him to provide evidence of the Council of State sitting during the time that he was a member of the Council.

Adom-Otchere stated that, he invoked the RTI Act, 2019, (Act 989) to demand a copy of the attendance of meetings of the Council of State from 2017 to 2022.

The Council, in a reply to Adom-Otchere’s request in a letter signed by Stephen Blay, Director, Finance and Administration, provided details of the attendance of the various meetings by the Council from February 2017 to December 2020.

Showing a paper trail regarding the attendance of meetings by members of the Council of State, including Togbe Afede, he said, “I have to restate from the records that he [Togbe Afede] attended 16 percent of the meetings [by the Council of State]…I am not in this job for whatever people will say. I have been doing this job for 20 years and will not come and talk about something from on top of my head.”

“I have been leading for the past 20 years, so, when I come and say something and people say it is not true, I just don’t understand what that means,” he added.

With evidence of the meetings by some of the committees that Togbe Afede XIV was the chair, records presented by Paul Adom-Otchere showed that the ‘Economy and Sustainable Development Initiatives Committee’ (ESDIC) had only eleven meetings for the four years that Togbe Afede was the chairman.

“In the period [of four years], Togbe’s Committee - ESDIC - had abysmal eleven meetings thus, four meetings in 2017, 2018 and 2019 and one meeting in 2020. That is the record.

“Why did his committee hold far lesser meetings than the rest?” he asked.

Records of the Council of State meetings.