Peacefmonline.com can confirm that former Attorney-General and now Minister of Education, Madam Betty Mould-Iddrisu, has resigned her position from government.
The former A-G and Minister of Justice tendered in her resignation at the presidency late Monday night, according to peacefmonline sources at the Castle.
�I'm resigning with a clear conscience and i'm confident any investigation will exonerate me,� she told a source at the Castle.
Her resignation comes weeks after President Mills fired Martin Amidu, Minister for Justice and Attorney General, for "misconduct".
Betty had been under pressure to resign or be shown the door over her handling of the payment of about GHS58 million to the businessman and financier of the ruling party, Alfred Woyome, while she was Attorney General.
It would be recalled that last week a brigade of journalists in Accra thronged a scheduled press conference by the Education Ministry with the belief that Madam Betty Mould-Iddrisu was going to open up on the Alfred Agbesi Woyome financial scandal, since she had been strongly accused of virtually handing over the GH�58million to the self-styled NDC financier.
The former A-G stands accused of failing to defend the case brought against the state by Mr. Alfred Woyome resulting in the payment of GH�58 million judgement debt paid to the NDC financier.
Grabbing all their equipment, the paparazzi trooped to the ministry for the embattled minister to state her position only to be hugely disappointed with a �no show�. Her deputy, Mahama Ayariga, who was drafted to stand in for her used the platform to tell journalists what the former A-G and Minister of Justice had been doing to improve the quality of basic education in Ghana.
Betty Mould-Iddrisu�s complicity in the whole Woyome saga has to do with the decision to rather negotiate for consent judgment with the embattled NDC guru resulting in the huge money that was paid to him (Woyome).
Mr. Woyome claims to have provided financial engineering services to raise funds for the construction of the stadia to host the CAN 2008 tournament, but the contract was terminated and, therefore, sued the government for breach of contract.
However, when pressure for the recovery of the money became intense, the Deputy Attorney General, Ebo Barton Odro told the media that he and his boss, Betty, could not defend the 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.
Madam Betty Mould Iddrisu, who signed most of the documents advising the Finance Minister to pay the money, has remained quiet and has not, commented on the issue.
Journalists therefore were under the impression fueled by the PR section of the Education Ministry that the press conference was going to be the forum for her to state her side of the story, and name all the personalities those who advised her not to defend the case and also establish the legal basis for which she accepted that advice.
The grapevine has it that the decision not to defend the case but rather negotiate for consent judgment came from officials at the Finance Ministry, who advised her that Woyome had a genuine case, after going through all their records.
The immediate-past A-G, before he was given the marching off orders, had already filed a motion to amend the original suit he brought against Alfred Woyome that he was not entitled to the compensation that was paid to him, because there is no contract between him and the government of Ghana.
He accused Mr. Woyome in the amended writ of using his membership as an NDC member to perpetuate fraud.
�I wish to assure the people of Ghana that I still stand by my promise in spite of the fact that hard core criminals in our society today have made it a habit to hold paid membership cards of major political parties in the republic as an unconstitutional insurance against crime and criminal prosecutions,� he served the notice.
Mr Martin Amidu stated that he would not be deterred by attempts to undermine him by a colleague minister.
�I wish core members and supporters of the NDC who cherish the principles and ideals upon which the party was founded to know that the attacks against me which started in the Daily Post publication of 3rd January 2012 were planned by a colleague Minister of State, who perceived that my integrity and professionalism as a lawyer was a threat to the concealment of gargantuan crimes against the people of Ghana in which they might be implicated,� he said in a statement.
�As for the section of the rented NDC press calling for my removal or dismissal from office, I wish to assure them that I never begged to be appointed Attorney-General: I opposed it on four separate occasions. That criminal section of the NDC press should be assured that I am ready, able and willing for that eventuality. The inescapable fact is that at the end of the day truth will prevail over falsehood in the Republic of Ghana,� he stressed.
Speculations had been rife that Betty cannot be absolved from the Woyome scandal since she authorised the settlement payment. She becomes the second cabinet minister in the Mills administration to have lost her job over the Woyome saga following closely on the heels of dismissed Attorney General, Martin Amidu.
President Mills is yet to accept her resignation.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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