Don’t go after Aggudey alone – CPP urges SSNIT
The Convention People’s Party (CPP), has called on those at the helm of the state to go beyond the imprisonment of Mr George Aggudey, as an individual, and pursue the policy of punishing those who default in their payment of social security contributions to its logical conclusion.
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According to the party, SSNIT ought to hold all businesses in Ghana to account on all their obligations and not just a few.
In a press statement, the party said some of the biggest institutions in the country owed vast sums to utility companies.
The statement said Mr Aggudey, a one-time flag bearer of the party, had for many years complained about witch-hunt and targeting of his business, blaming certain political forces of being behind it.
“We would want to believe that this matter is not a product of a hidden agenda coming a few days before the celebration of Founder’s Day, the 104th birthday anniversary of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah,’’ the statement pointed out.
It said it was important to note that Mr Aggudey’s company, Gocrest Security Services, employed many people and for almost 30 years had been contributing to the welfare of many families.
The statement explained that the company continued to provide employment to many in Ghana and beyond Ghana’s borders.
“It is with regret that we received the news of the sentencing of Mr George Aggudey to a prison term after a SSNIT contributions case at an Accra Court,” the statement added.
The issue, according to the statement, raised a number of questions which must be addressed, stating that what had happened to Mr Aggudey pointed to the malaise within the country.
As a party member and former flag bearer of our party, the statement said the party would offer the greatest support to him and his family at this difficult time while the leaders of the party seek to meet with him to assess how best he could be assisted to ensure Gocrest Security complies with all employment laws.
The statement said it was a matter of regret that this had happened to a member of the CPP but it needed to be stated that the CPP had no involvement in the running of Mr Aggudey's business affairs or those of the party’s individual members.
The statement, therefore, called on all businessmen and women within the party to seek good and appropriate advice to ensure that they regulate their affairs in such a way as not to fall foul of the law.
The statement attributed this state of affairs to the socio-economic policies of a state that listened to and protected the interests of rich countries and institutions outside the country more than those of its own people, thereby plunging the large majority into poverty.
Against the background of the widening chasm between the rich and poor, the statement said the party expected the government to implement programmes and policies to bring corruption and mismanagement of its resources to a minimum because these lay at the source of the country's problems.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
