TEMA, Ghana, 1st August: Secretary-General of the Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL), Abraham Koomson, has weighed in on the Court of Appeal’s decision to acquit former Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) Chief Executive Officer, Sedinam Attionu Tamakloe, rejecting suggestions that the ruling was politically motivated.
The Court of Appeal recently overturned the 2024 High Court conviction and 10-year prison sentence imposed on Ms. Tamakloe, who served as MASLOC CEO between 2013 and 2017.
The appellate court acquitted and discharged her after ruling that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against her beyond reasonable doubt.
Speaking on Ahotor FM’s Yepe Ahunu programme, Mr. Koomson said he had carefully studied the judgment and concluded that the appellate court based its decision strictly on the evidence presented rather than political considerations.
“I strongly disagree with the argument that the ruling was politically motivated,” he said. “I spent the whole night studying the judgment and realised the judges based their decision on the facts before them. The prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt, while the accused appeared to have been expected to prove her innocence. Besides, not all the judges who heard the appeal were appointed by the NDC government.”
Mr. Koomson further argued that allegations of political interference in the ruling were misplaced, maintaining that the court simply applied the law based on the evidence available.
He also claimed that, historically, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had relied on propaganda and what he described as fabricated allegations to undermine its political opponents, dating back to the administration of Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
“From the era of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, there have been propaganda campaigns, including the ‘Kankan Nyame’ narrative and other fabricated allegations, aimed at discrediting political opponents,” he alleged.
Mr. Koomson further claimed that, in more recent years, the NPP had sought to influence the judiciary by appointing individuals sympathetic to the party, resulting in judgments that, in his view, favoured the party’s political interests.
He cited the Supreme Court’s 2020 ruling on the use of birth certificates in the voter registration exercise, as well as the prosecution of former Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson in the ambulance procurement case, as examples to support his claims.
“Even in recent times, the NPP has escalated this through what I believe was the appointment of party loyalists to the judiciary, leading to judgments that favoured the party. The Supreme Court’s ruling on birth certificates and the conduct of the former Attorney-General in the Ato Forson case are examples. Those unanimous judgments were unprecedented and, in my view, were intended to weaken the NDC,” he said.
Turning to current political discourse, Mr. Koomson accused the opposition NPP of spreading misinformation about the government’s economic policies, including cocoa pricing, in an attempt to damage the image of the Mahama administration.
He therefore urged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to strengthen its grassroots structures to effectively counter what he described as negative propaganda.
“The misinformation surrounding government policies, including cocoa pricing, demonstrates the need for the NDC to consolidate and strengthen its grassroots structures so that such propaganda can be effectively challenged by party operatives at the local level,” he stated.
Story by: Emmanuel Romeo Tetteh(#RomeoWrites✍️)/ Presidential Affairs Correspondent | Ghana 🇬🇭