Member of Parliament for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini has described the jail term handed to former National Coordinator of the defunct National Youth Employment Programme, Abuga Pele, as ‘harsh’.
According to him, the convicted NYEP coordinator was not a mere victim of circumstances, adding that it was negligence that led him to jail.
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“I think Abuga Pele’s sentence is too harsh; he doesn’t deserve such punishment. He was not a victim of circumstances; I think negligence led him to this. He acted out of negligence and so his punishment could have been much less”, he said on Accra-based Okay FM.
He continued: “I think I sympathize entirely with Abuga Pele but on the matter of law it’s clearly an afterthought. There are many processes that one has to go through before you decide whether or not to engage someone to perform a contract.”
Mr Abuga Pele was a Member of Parliament for Chiana-Paga before he was appointed as head of NYEP, which was later renamed Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA).
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A number of his loyalists had wanted him to contest the 2016 parliamentary polls as an independent candidate, given the work he had done within the NDC.
But he didn’t for political expediency.
His conviction was followed on Friday with a six-year jail sentence for willfully causing financial loss to the state.
His accomplice, Philip Assibit, got 12 years in jail for defrauding by false pretences, among other charges.
The two were trialed for allegedly colluding to milk the state of GH¢4.1 million.
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But the former Roads and Highways Minister said though the former MP for Chiana-Paga caused financial loss to the state, his approach was done negligently.
He argued that Mr. Abuga Pele deserved a lesser jail term due to his status as a former Member of Parliament.
