Probing accounts must start from Lordina Mahama – Majority

The Majority in Parliament has responded to calls by the Minority for the accounts of both the First and the Second Ladies to be probed.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members on Tuesday, July 13 called on the Auditor General to begin processes to look into the account of Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Hajia Samira Bawumia to check if they have enough monies to refund received allowances of over four years.

The two, against public outcry, voted to refund all monies they have received since assuming their de facto roles in 2017.

But the NDC MPs demanded they refunded the interests on those monies as well.

“Refunding the money now, you must also compute the interests that the money would have accrued and pay same to government,” Ketu North MP and Deputy Majority Leader James Klutse Avedzi demanded in a press briefing on Tuesday.

But responding directly to this, MP for Nhyiaeso Constituency Dr Stephen Amoah said the controversy the issue stirred is what prompted the First and Second Ladies to refund the monies.

He insists that other First Ladies who also received same allowances in the past should begin processes to refund same.

“Some are saying [Mrs Akufo-Addo’s] account should be checked. Thank you very much.

“If that is the case, the account of Lordina Mahama, Her Excellency, respectfully, we must start from her.

“We must start from all the First Ladies. All of them we have to. I agree to what [the NDC MPs] are saying but it couldn’t have been only one,” the former Chief Executive Officer of the Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) said.