Ghana�s most controversial and abrasive state payment to an individual, the Woyome judgment saga, made a mammoth appearance in London last Friday when petition-armed Ghanaians marched to the High Commission.
A large number of Ghanaians resident in the United Kingdom joined by members of the local branch of the Young Patriots, a pressure group calling for the return of the GH�51.2million paid to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, ignored a mild downpour and made their way to the Ghana High Commission, chanting their dismay at the manner in which the issue had been handled so far by the Mills/Mahama administration.
For effect, the demonstrators blocked all entrances to the facility as they waited for the High Commissioner, Prof Kwaku Danso-Boafo, who was not present when they reached the place.
Prof Danso-Boafo, who had earlier asked the majority of the mission staff not to turn up for work on that day, was compelled to come and give audience to the picketers and receive their petition which they copied a number of organisations including the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
�We have been dumbfounded ever since it became public that over GH�600 million has been paid in the name of judgment debts to people and organisations who have done no work whatsoever for the country,� they pointed out in their petition.
The area around the premises of the Consulate on Highgate Hill where passport and visa applications are processed was a beehive of activities as the angry Ghanaians among who were journalists from various Ghanaian local radio stations, chanted their frustration.
The few mission officials at post refused to allow the journalists to tap electricity from the building for their live broadcasts, a situation which necessitated their resorting to nearby buildings for power at a cost though.
Titled, �Retrieval Of Unlawful Judgment Debt�, the petition expressed, as they put it, their �frustration, disappointment and disgust concerning the recent happenings in Ghana under the present government�.
Turning specifically to Alfred Agbesi Woyome, they pointed out that he defrauded the nation to the tune of GH�51.2million, adding that �the construction company, CP, has also been given over �94,000,000 as confirmed by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.�
Such levels of corruption, they noted, was robbing Ghana of her respectability in the international community, a situation they described as �state sponsored unprecedented corruption under the purview of a Law Professor, President J.E.A. Mills.�
They expressed misgivings about the commitment of the Mills/Mahama government to retrieve what they called the gargantuan money.
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