Mr Alan Kyeremanten, the Minister of Trade, Friday, stood his grounds that the Ministry cannot be accused of official indiscretion for accepting voluntary contributions and sponsorship to organise an event for which receipts were issued.
Mr Kyeremanten told the Ameyaw Cheremeh Committee probing the allegation of “cash for seat” and extortion of money from expatriates during the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) committee’s sitting at the Parliament House in Accra that, 17 people, including President Nana Akufo-Addo” in total, were at the presidential high table on the night of the programme.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry is alleged to have charged expatriates up to $100,000 for access to President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo during the recently held GEBA.
“Mr Chairman, for the avoidance of doubt, none of the persons mentioned made a contribution of $100,000 prior to the event,” he stated.
He added that there were representatives of organisations, who did not make any monetary contributions before and after the event.
“There were three of them; these were individuals, who were seated at the high table but made no contributions either before or after the event.”
He, however, said seven others made prior contribution, with two individuals also contributing after the event.
“I know that there was one individual who was seated on the high table who has come out publicly to confirm that he paid GHS 13, 000,” he recalled.
He said: “Until now, I have not heard or seen any individuals make a specific allegation in respect of extortion or levy. But I have made my submission and hopefully that will come to the end of the matter.”
Mr Kyerematen cautioned that the allegation of the Government of Ghana extorting monies from the expatriate business community has a big potential in denting the international reputation of the nation and affects her drive for foreign direct investment.
“Since the allegation broke out we have had to endure a controversy that has the potential of making very significant damage to our international reputation.”
Despite seemingly disagreements and arguments by some members of the committee on whether the president mentioned in the allegation was President Nana Akufo-Addo or another person, the Minister, who went through a marathon testimony of more than six hours, concluded, saying, “I hope that as I said earlier on we’ll come to the final determination of this matter.
Although the Office of the President has indicated no wrongdoing on the part of the Minister in the organisation of the event, legislators of the Minority Side of the National Congress (NDC) accused the Ministry of wrongly levying and collecting various sums of money from expatriate business people to enable them to sit close to President Akufo Addo and later have a private dinner with him.
Source: GNA
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
NDC Mps at parliament made allegation of extortion and corruption against the Trade and Industry Ministry. The President of Ghana took immediate action to investigate the matter and exonerating Trade and Industry Ministry from any wrongdoing. NDC MPs were dissatisfied and called for emergency conveyance of parliament from recess for the Christmas. The Speaker and the NPP Majority of Parliament judged the NDC proposal incompetent but agreed to set up a five-member committee to investigate the "cash for seats"allegation which has revealed the following facts. 1. Private Sector Industries establishing partnership with Trade and Industry Ministry to undertake a joint project to acknowledge and promote expatriate industries in Ghana. 2. The Trade and Industry Ministry established MOU with the Private Sector Body to execute the the project. 3.The Ministry was engaged to provide official recognition and supervision. 3.The Private Sector Body was responsible for execution of the project. 4.Project was to be pre-financed by the Private Sector Body and its expenditure to be reimbursed from earning of the project. 5.Donations To the project to be deposited with the Ministry to ascertain accountability of the donations in order to inspire trust and confidence of donors. 6.Presidency not involved in the organization of the project but informed and invited to the function. 7.Project executed on date according to MOU. 8. Donation to project categorised but voluntary. 9. Donations deposited with ministry as agreed in MOU and acknowledged with receipts. 10. Payments for project justified without any challenge. 11. Internal auditing carried out within a month of event of project. 12. No complaint made and no fault established by any of the players of event. 13. NDC Chief Whip, Mustapha, abandons claims of extortion and corruption, but insists the call for investigation was necessary for clarity. 14. NDC Okudjeto Ablakwah admits of not having enough facts of project and event. He abandons the claim of levy but thinks the donation is extortion and corruption because Rawlings, Ken. Agyapong, PC Appiah Ofori, Integrity Initiative and other persons or groups has expressed similar concerns about his allegation. He further claims that the NDC MPs allegation captured the attention of of BBC and other international Media so it was necessary to call for the emergency of parliament. The investigation was uncalled for. It was waste of time and resources. However it has justified Nana Addo and vindicated Alan and the Trade and Industry Ministry. It has revealed for the second time the manipulation of Minority Chief Whip, Mustapha by NDC Party to make him stupiddddd in the eyes of ghanaians. It has also reveaed Okodjato as, rushinggg, myyopic, illogicalll, and adamantttt. He has not yat grown by coming to parliament but continue to be immatureeed. He needs to grow. Another important revelation about the investigation is that it is now moving away from investigation to auditing of Trade and Industry Ministry as it appears in the questions of the Deputy Minority Leader. I don't know if after his interrogation the Trade and Industry Ministry would still be audited by the Controller and Accountant General Department for their usual periodic auditing of the ministries.