‘I almost died’ – Tsatsu Tsikata recounts prison experience 12 years ago

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Legal luminary and former Chief Executive of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Mr Tsatsu Tsikata, has said he almost died in prison after his controversial incarceration 12 years ago.

According to him, although his prison experience was painful, he reflects on it with gratitude to God for keeping him alive.

“When I look back, I don’t think of it as something terrible that I went through and feel bitter or angry. Rather, I am thankful to God that I went through that valley and was able to come out still alive,” he said.

Mr Tsikata was speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues on Thursday, June 18, 2020.

“I could have been dead because I had an asthmatic attack at the end, but by God’s grace, I am still alive. I have a lot to be grateful for in terms of the support that I received from my wife, my siblings, my mother, my family and all the people who I have never met before in the country and other parts of the world,” he recounted.

Tsatsu Tsikata was sentenced for willfully causing financial loss to the state through a loan facility the GNPC guaranteed for Valley Farms, a private cocoa-growing company.

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Following a legal tussle between his lawyers and the state, he was eventually found guilty on three counts of willfully causing financial loss of GH¢230,000 to the state and another count of misapplying public funds.

The June 18, 2008 conviction, according to Mr Tsikata was politically motivated.

“This is not a case in which an independent judicial decision is being given. It was a politically driven agenda and [Justice Henrietta Abban] was, unfortunately, a tool for that political agenda,” he said.

“It was such an unexpected and extraordinary event that day on June 18, 2008, but as I look back now I take it as something that happened, unfortunate as it was, it took me through a further five months in which I experienced what I can only call a lot of blessings from God,” he told TV3’s Hot Issues.

While Mr Tsikata was in prison, former President John Agyekum Kufuor granted him a presidential pardon but Mr Tsikata rejected it.

He rejected it on grounds that he did not do any wrong in the first place to be incarcerated.

He later appealed his sentencing and was acquitted and discharged. The Appeals Court ruled that he was denied a fair trial.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

 

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About Post Author

Ellis Ferdinand

Ellis Ferdinand is the Founder of Education Ghana Media Network ,a parent Company of EducationGhana.net ,an Online Education News Blog and Education Television, an Online Digital Television Channel. Ellis Ferdinand is a Graduate of Accra College of Education and the University of Cape Coast respectively, where he obtained a Diploma In Basic Education and a Bachelor of Education in Accounting. Awards Ellis Ferdinand won Blogger of the Year at the 2018 National Students’ Awards and was also adjudged 14th Best Ghanain Blogger in 2018 among Top 50 Ghanaian Bloggers of 2018. He introduced the Concept of Education Blogging in Ghana in 2014 with his famous blog EducationGhana.net. His Blog won Best Media Promoting Education in 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively, an Award organized by Neogenics Education Consult. In 2019, He was adjudged the Most Promising West African Blogger of the Year in Nigeria.
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