I was targeted by the administration of Kufuor – Tsatsu Tsikata

Former CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Tsatsu Tsikata explained his reasons for rejecting the presidential pardon of former President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2008.

According to the legal expert, the administration of former president JA Kufuor was determined to imprison him.

Speaking in an interview with an Accra-based channel Pan African TV, lead counsel for petitioner John Mahama, in the ongoing election petition, observed that there was a plot to overturn the success of the former Chairman Rawlings in the oil and gas industry.

As such, he was made a scapegoat, as he was the CEO of the Commission under the Rawlings administration.

On Wednesday June 8, 2008, a High Court chaired by Judge Henrieta Abban jailed Mr. Tsikata for willfully causing financial loss to the state.

But eight years later, the Court of Appeal ruled that the High Court unjustly jailed Mr. Tsikata and subsequently cleared him of any wrongdoing after Mr. Tsikata appealed.

“There was a ‘determination’ on the part of the Kufuor government to criticize the way Rawlings had handled the GNPC and I knew it would come back to him,” Tsatsu said.

“I had been involved in the GNPC under President Rawlings and was considered someone close to Rawlings. Much credit should be given to his interest at the time in establishing GNPC. “

According to him, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had to struggle to find faults in its management as head of the GNPC.

“Unfortunately in this country, when a new government came in, they wanted to throw the things they had done overboard. I had run GNPC during this time and became a target.

“I could see in early 2001 the determination, hook or crook, to find something against me. That’s what led to all these interesting cases against me, ”he said.

Tsatsu also spoke about the legal proceedings that led to his ending up in Nsawam Prison.

“I went to the Supreme Court and the Expedited Court was declared unconstitutional. They changed the panel and added two more panels to form the exam. At the time, there were people who criticized the judges’ decision in my favor.

“You should go and listen to what President Akufo-Addo, who was the Attorney General, said about the judges. There was a determination to overturn that decision. Judge Afreh was appointed, another judge was also appointed, so from a 5-4 in my favor it became 6-5 against me, ”he said.