“A1 Radio seems to have some magic. I have declined so many interviews from many radio stations. Well, I am here. Thank you for giving me the opportunity,” the former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency [GYEEDA], Abuga Pele, the former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency [GYEEDA], Abuga Pele said when he sat down for a media interaction a year after his incarceration.
It would be recalled that an Accra High Court today, Friday, February 23, 2018, sentenced the former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency [GYEEDA], Abuga Pele, and the Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group, Philip Assibit, to a combined jail-term of eighteen years on various counts, including willfully causing financial loss to the state.
Originally, the two were handed jail terms of ten (10) and sixteen (16) respectively.
But per the breakdown, Abuga Pele, who was handed a four and six-year sentence on different counts, will have his sentence running concurrently, meaning he will serve six years behind bars.
Assibit on the other hand, got a sentence of twelve and four years on different counts, but the two will run concurrently, which means he will also serve a jail term of twelve years.
The court also ordered the state to recover all assets and money belonging to the state from the two.
In July 2021, he received a presidential pardon by Nana Akufo-Addo on health grounds. He was taken to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital after he faced health issues and was in critical condition.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his release last year, Abuga Pele who was received with a rousing welcome back home to his hometown of Paga – Nakolo in the Upper East Region on Saturday, August 21, said the truth about his incarceration “will come out one day”.
In his first exclusive media interview with Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show, he said, “thank you for giving me this singular opportunity. I am happy I selected a radio station from my own region to present my opinions on some of these issues that have affected me and have affected my people. I will always be at your service.”
Meanwhile, the former Member of Parliament for Chiana–Paga Constituency, Abuga Pele still cannot fathom why he was prosecuted by the state.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
