President Mills: I will not fire Ebo Barton Odro
Credible information available to the New Statesman indicates that President John Evans Atta-Mills has indicated his readiness not to fire the deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Ebo Barton Odro, in the wake of the Woyome saga.
Castle sources have told the New Statesman that President Mills views Mr Barton Odro as “his son in whom he is well pleased” and there is absolutely no way he will get the sack.
The latest instalment in the cabinet reshuffles by President John Evans Atta-Mills goes to vindicate this assertion and as an indication of the preparedness of government to engage in the active defence of Mr Woyome as was done by President Mills in his interview with Radio Gold on the 23rd of December 2011.
Mr Ebo Barton Odro, the deputy Attorney-General, openly declared on Joy FM that he and his former boss, Betty Mould Iddrisu, could not defend the Woyome case, because it was a bad one and that they even helped the state to save money by negotiating with Woyome to reduce interest on the money that he was demanding from the state.
Due to this development, a whopping amount of GH¢58 million was doled out to Mr Alfred Woyome by the Mills-Mahama administration for no work done.
However, Mr Barton Odro still held onto the view that government had a bad case even when Betty Mould Iddrisu, on the 11th of June 2010, stated that she “was of the mistaken belief” that her office had no defence, and that she had discovered that they now had a defence.
Mr Barton Odro’s resolve and position on the Woyome case has not been shaken and still remains intact in light of the amended writ filed by the immediate former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu.
According to Mr Martin Amidu, “Plaintiff has now discovered new and more documents and information from diverse sources involved in the transaction between Government of Ghana and Waterville that discloses that the claims by the Defendant (Woyome) were fraudulent.”
Mr. Amidu said although Woyome purposely and fraudulently misrepresented to the AG that he was entitled to his claim.
Nana Obiri Boahen, a former Minister of State at the Interior Ministry, contends that Mr Odro’s persistent position that Government had no defence to the claim brought against it by President Mills’ bankroller, Alfred Woyome, was an indication that his judgment had been compromised.
“I wonder why Barton Odro should still remain in office after exhibiting this level of unprecedented ministerial ineptitude and professional incompetence in his public utterances about the Woyome case. No serious president will keep such a man in his government,” the NPP guru stated.
He explained that the very moment the amendment was filed by his former boss, he ought to have been out of the A-G’s office “because there is no coherence and cohesion in the Attorney General’s office relative to the pursuit of the Woyome case.”
Source The Statesman Ghana
Category: News
