Renowned legal practitioner, and political activist Martin Kpebu, has alleged that another senior presidential staffer has fallen victim to a theft of over a million dollars from his home. He made this shocking disclosure during a panel discussion on Citi TV’s “The Big Issue” on Saturday.
Mr. Kpebu said he heard about the incident either about three days or a week ago, but did not mention the name of the affected staffer. He said people were trying to keep it quiet, but he felt the need to expose it as part of the fight against corruption.
“We also have to keep talking about Madam Cecilia Dapaah’s case. We are not talking enough at all, because corruption is so rife. Look, I will not mention names, but just 3 days ago or so or in the last one week, I heard that another senior presidential staffer had over a million dollars stolen from his home. People are trying to keep it quiet, but we have to expose it. Listen, in a democracy, some people have to talk and sometimes pay the price for it. That’s how it is. A very senior staffer had close to 2 million dollars just stolen from his home. Wow!” he said.
Kpebu’s revelation comes at a time when the country is still reeling from the high-profile case involving former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah. Her situation became a public spectacle in July this year, following the discovery of the theft of valuables and cash worth over $1.4 million from her residence, leading to a broader investigation into potential corruption, theft, and money laundering. Notably, the case escalated when the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) became involved, seizing significant sums of money from Dapaah’s premises, amongst other investigative processes. The case is still in court.
Against this backdrop, Kpebu highlighted the urgent need for greater transparency in the asset declaration process for public officers and pointed to initiatives by organisations like the Human Rights and Governance Centre, advocating for a bill that mandates public officers to declare and publish their assets online, aiming to enhance transparency and reduce associated costs.
“Earlier in the week, we had a big conversation about asset declaration. You know, the Human Rights and Governance Center is trying to push for a new bill that would require every public officer to publish his assets online on a website after declaring them. This would reduce the cost and increase the transparency of the process. These are some of the things we discussed,” he said.
However, the conversation took a significant turn as Kpebu redirected attention to the alarming levels of corruption, exemplified by recent events. Without naming specific individuals, he recounted hearing about the theft of close to $2 million from the home of a high-ranking presidential staffer. This incident, according to Kpebu, is symptomatic of the larger issue at hand – the accumulation of unexplained wealth and the lack of effective mechanisms to scrutinise the same.
“So you see why we keep repeating that we should search the officers at the presidency, the ministers, and their homes. We should search them. If they clear their homes of the money, good for them.
“But we are just playing. They are playing and we are playing ostrich. The money is in their homes. Listen, if we don’t do this, we are not fighting corruption. If we don’t search all the ministers, forget it. You see, earlier on I had been talking about this minister who has four houses back to back in East Legon. Some radio stations have started talking about it. Very soon his name will be put out,” he mentioned.
Calling for decisive action, Kpebu insisted on the need for rigorous searches of officials at the presidency, ministers, and their respective residences. “We have made a report by sitting here and saying that they have money in their homes. That’s a report. If they clear their homes of the money, good for them,” he stated, highlighting the passive approach that both the public and officials seem to be adopting regarding these serious allegations.
He further chastised the general attitude towards corruption and the lack of a proactive mindset in combating it. Kpebu cited public perception, where individuals often defend politicians by attributing their wealth to prior business successes.
Quoting Socrates from Plato’s “The Republic,” Kpebu reinforced the notion that honesty is a foreign to a politician. This perspective, he believes, is crucial in shaping public understanding and expectation of political figures.
“Look, Socrates said it in Plato’s book The Republic: there is no honest politician. There is no honest politician. It’s a reality. He said it’s a rule and every rule may have an exception, but that’s the main rule. So what I’m saying is that we don’t have the right mindset for fighting corruption. We sit down and a large majority of our people, because they don’t have access to much information and all that, they say: “Oh, but he’s a big man. He was doing this business and that business and so on. So if he’s holding anything, it’s from business.
Yeah, right! The last time I came here, was it the last time or before? I met one of the panelists here and he started to tell me that he had this business and that business. I said: “Master, master! I remember you in 2016. You hardly had a job. I met you somewhere and you were begging for a job.” Right now you’re driving a big car? One of the panelists! I said: “Don’t do that! Don’t tell me this! Tell that to the marines!” Mr Kpebu submitted.
In a passionate appeal, Kpebu called for a more hands-on approach to tackling corruption, demanding that ministers and public officers be subjected to thorough searches as part of anti-corruption efforts. This step, he argues, is essential if the nation is sincere about eradicating corruption from its political landscape.
“So the thing is that we must search the ministers if we are not searching the ministers forget about this fight against corruption. We [must] line them up one by one and search them,” he concluded, signifying the urgent need for practical measures against the deeply entrenched corruption within the system.