Former member of parliament of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) representing Obuasi East, Edward Michael Ennin, has made a claim that government-owned houses, originally priced at one million dollars, are allegedly being sold to party members for prices ranging between US$300,000 and US$400,000.
During a radio interview, he expressed his dismay over what he perceived as a significant erosion of the core values that the NPP traditionally upheld, highlighting the accumulation of illicit wealth and the misuse of state funds by both party leaders and its members.
Regarding the specific allegation, Ennin informed Akoma FM, a Kumasi-based radio station, that he possessed receipts related to some of these alleged sales and was prepared to make them public if necessary.
“If they continue daring some of us like this, the party will end up in a ditch,” he cautioned an Ashanti Regional spokesperson who was calling his bluff on an issue he had earlier raised on the show.
“Recently, government houses that cost US$1 million haven’t been purchased for 300,000 and 400,000 USD? I know people who bought some and I have receipts to that effect and can pinpoint the ministry involved,” he disclosed.
Laments rising spate of looting
He alleged that leaders and members of the NPP have been involved in misappropriating state resources.
“The NPP party has collapsed, just that people haven’t realised it yet. If we continue like this, we will be destroyed. The kind of things that are ongoing, if I look at when I joined the party, if the NPP was like this, I swear to my father’s grave, who was an NLM member and suffered for the party, that if this was the state of the party, I wouldn’t have joined.
“Because all the leaders have turned into corrupt officials. The youth are stealing, and the leaders are stealing. I have never seen such a thing in my life,” he said.
He contended that while the NDC had faced criticism for corruption during its time in office, the NPP, now in power, is involved in practises that he believes are even more detrimental.
He added, “When the NDC was in power and they were stealing, some of us came out to condemn them, and everybody is aware that John Mahama didn’t get it easy with me.
“When Kennedy Agyapong was disgracing John Mahama, they were praising him. Now that he is talking about their actions, they are saying he is destroying the party.
“What I am saying is that the party that we used to know is no more because some of us sat on the radio to accuse Mahama of stealing money, and now we are doing worse things,” he added.