My Family Asked Me To Frame Rachel Appoh � Victoria Hammer's Driver

Lawrence Quayeson, the embattled driver of Ms Victoria Hammah, has backtracked on an allegation that he was contracted by Ms Rachael Appoh to secretly record conversations of the dismissed Deputy Communications Minister. Quayeson, in an interview with Radio XYZ Sunday accused the Deputy Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection of offering him US$2,000 and a US visa in exchange for recordings of Ms Hammah's private conversations. He alleged that Ms Appoh had contacted him through a former Personal Assistant of Ms Hammah, whose name he gave as Ayitey Bastey. �It�s Ayittey Basty who came to me and told me that I should call Rachel Appoh, yeah, Rachel Appoh, and she'll tell me whatever I want to do, so she called me and said �have I seen Ayittey Basty?� And I said �no� and she said she'll call him and talk to him�and see him to come and see me," he said. He said Ms Appoh had called him on phone to issue the instructions. However, moments after the interview, Quayeson abandoned the claim. In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, he said he had been coerced by his family members to frame Ms Appoh. Quayeson was arrested Friday in connection with the recording, but was granted bail after the police could not determine what offence to charge him with. The Public Relations Officer of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, DSP Freeman Tettey, said the arrest followed Ms Hammah's complaint to the effect that her driver had secretly recorded her. Ms Hammah was sacked Friday morning by President John Mahama after the recording had been made public, in which she was heard implying that she would not put her political career at risk by engaging in squabbles with political heavy weights until she had made US$1 million. In the recording, Ms Hammah made reference to a series of disagreements between Ms Appoh and Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection. Ms Hammah was heard chastising Ms Appoh for daring to pick up a fight with Nana Oye, whom she described as an �institution� with close links to President Mahama and Mr and Mrs Rawlings. She claimed to have heard that Nana Oye played a fundamental role in securing a favourable verdict for President Mahama in the 2012 election petition verdict. Describing Ms Appoh as �senseless, ugly, loud and egoistic�, she said it was unreasonable on her part to be standing up to Nana Oye when she (Ms Appoh) did not even have close to GHȻ100,000 in her account. �I�ve not made $1 million dollars and I�m going to fight?�, Ms Hammah asked rhetorically, adding, "If you have money then you can control people."