A renowned criminologist, Prof. Ken Attafuah has reacted angrily to comments made by a prosecution witness in the ongoing Amina case accusing him and other leaders of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of offering him (the witness) money to corroborate the story of mass rape, saying he has been taken aback by the seemingly political coloration to the case. In his bid to fend off the accusations that he is working in cahoots with the opposition NPP to run down the government, Prof. Attafuah revealed that Amina Mohammed, the woman at the centre of the mass rape case, is a known sympathiser of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). “Amina is an NDC woman who voted for Prof. Mills and the NDC [parliamentary] candidate in that [Ashaiman] constituency. When they NDC won she went jubilating so much,” he stated He said the woman in question whom some people in government claimed was paid and coached by the NPP to make the NDC administration unpopular by ‘fabricating’ a robbery cum gory rape incident on an Accra-Tamale bound bus on October 11, 2010, ironically jubilated in the victory of the NDC in 2008 elections to the extent that her child went missing for three days and later when the child was found, a police officer who was angered by her carefree behaviour slapped her and called her a “stupid woman”. Prof. Attafuah who made the above disclosure on Peace FM on Monday was speaking on the back of the latest development in the Amina saga after prosecution witness, Michael Frimpong, on Friday accused him and four top NPP members including its Chairman Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey of attempting to bribe him with GH¢90,000 to corroborate Amina’s story. Michael Frimpong, initially a suspect in the case, was testifying as a prosecution witness in the case in which, the main suspect, Amina Mohammed, a hairdresser, has pleaded not guilty to charges of publication of false news with intent to cause fear and panic and deceit of a public officer. Prof. Attafuah who was in court when the allegation was made said he was “shocked” by it and became emotional in the courtroom. Interestingly, he also suspects the prosecution and the police of conniving to instruct Michael Frimpong to make up those allegations and link him to the NPP. “My suspicion is that the state having wrongly tagged me as an NPP and having seen me in defense of Amina, they are hell bent on linking me to politics.” Prof Attafuah said even if there is any political inclination to the story, then it might have been started by the NDC because the person who sent Amina to Adom FM, where she first made public the ordeal on that Yutong Bus, was a known “local organizer of the NDC, Efo Cephas,” who lived in the same area with Amina. A former finance minister in the erstwhile NPP government, Yaw Osafo Maafo, who was named by Michael Frimpong among other persons, discredited the prosecution witness saying he suspects Frimpong is suffering from a mental disorder. He denied any involvement in the saga and wondered why he should, under any circumstance, develop interest in such an issue. He said the allegation should be treated with the contempt it deserves because the witness is “mad”. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana