The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Asiedu Nketiah, has called for an immediate and thorough search of the residences of all government appointees in light of the alleged theft of substantial funds from the private residence of a former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
Speaking in an interview on Okay FM on July 25, 2023, Asiedu Nketiah expressed his lack of surprise over Cecilia Dappah’s stolen money, citing his belief that the current government and its appointees are involved in amassing wealth for themselves while deceiving the ordinary citizens.
He voiced concern about the extent of corruption within the administration, urging for decisive action to hold those responsible accountable.
“For Cecilia Dapaah’s case, I am not surprised because we have been saying often times that the aim of this government is to deceive Ghanaians to amass wealth and use the same wealth to stay in power.
“So, they acquire such monies, they always make sure that it is distributed equally to everyone who might have an interest in investigations to silence them, so it is God’s doing that this case has exposed them and because the money was enough, she couldn't even realize that some have been stolen,” he said.
The NDC National Chairman further emphasized the need for action, suggesting that if Ghana is genuinely committed to combatting corruption, the Special Prosecutor should order the submission of passports from all government appointees and conduct a nationwide search of their residences.
He expressed his belief that the amount of money that will be recovered from such an operation could surpass the bailout sum Ghana is seeking from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“If we are serious as a country today, the Special Prosecutor would have ordered that all government appointees should submit their passports, ministers and every appointee, then we search everybody, a nationwide swoop to check every minister's residence.
The money that we will get will be more than the loan that we are taking from the IMF because I have the belief that due to bad governance, they have shared the money and we are suffering while they are preaching to us that Ukraine-Russian war has brought the said hardship on us even though we haven’t voted for Russia and Ukraine.
"…so the monies are in their various houses and rooms, so they have the money but they don’t know where to keep them,” he added.
Cecilia Dapaah has since July 22 resigned her ministerial position and has been arrested and released on bail by the Special Prosecutor after a search was conducted at her residence.
Meanwhile, police have submitted the docket of the case of theft as reported by the minister and her husband to the Attorney-General for advice.
However, some relatives of the former minister have also been questioned about the stolen monies from her Abelemkpe residence which led to her resignation from office and the current probe by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.
AM/SARA
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