Lawyer Maurice Ampaw has lambasted critics of Cecilia Dapaah, the former minister of Sanitation and Water Resources over the monies amounting to US$1 million, €300,000, and 350,000 Ghana cedis, allegedly stolen from her private residence.
According to Ampaw, those attacking the former minister are hypocrites, arguing that many Ghanaians themselves possess significant sums of money concealed in their homes.
“Today if you ask for money from any Ghanaian, the person will tell you that hthey don't have money, but the kind of money that people are having in this country…though a lot of people are suffering, most of them have money, they are…loaded.
“The hypocrisy of Ghanaians, you are all hypocrites, the monies that you people have that you have kept in your various homes…but you people are condemning Cecilia Dapaah as if she has committed a crime. If you like let us start with every politician in this country.”
He added “Cecilia Dapaah’s US$1 million is someone’s chicken change money; someone spends much more than that money in less than one month. I was a lawyer for one of the collapsed banks and the owner disclosed to me that his wage bill alone is sixty-six billion Ghana cedis, wage bill alone, what is one million Ghana cedis?"
Speaking on his Mmra Ne Abrabo Mu Nsem show on Wontumi TV on July 23, 2023, he accused the former president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of propagating hypocrisy by calling for the head of Cecilia Dapaah while having similar practices within their ranks.
According to Ampaw, it is unjust to single out the embattled former minister for condemnation when others might have engaged in similar financial misbehaviors without public scrutiny.
“Shameless people, because of propaganda even today Mahama is also doing propaganda, You, President Mahama, look at the hypocrisy of President Mahama. President Mahama US$1 million is just a day's money for you…because today you NDC people don’t have money and you are hungry…. for how many years from 2016 until now? How many years have you been in opposition?
“You people had money from 2008 to 2012, NDC, you made money and kept them in your houses same as Cecilia Dapaah did, some of you, hypocrisy all the NDC people,” he added.
Meanwhile, the former minister, in her letter of resignation letter addressed to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, explained that she decided to resign because the issues surrounding the monies could affect the government negatively.
However, she noted that the subject of theft in her home as captured by many reports has been grossly exaggerated.
"Since yesterday, Friday, July 21, 2023, social and traditional media have been full of stories about a court case involving a theft that took place last year in the home I live with my husband and daughter.
"The stories sought to suggest that I own various huge sums of foreign currencies and millions of Ghana cedis which have been stolen from my home. Whereas I can state emphatically that those figures do not represent correctly what my husband and I reported to the Police, I am very much aware of the import of such stories around someone in my position.
"I am resigning therefore because I do not want this matter to become a preoccupation of government and a hindrance to the work of government at such a crucial time," parts of the letter read.
AM/SARA
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