National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Asiedu Nketiah, has urgently called for a thorough investigation into the homes of all government appointees following allegations of significant funds being stolen from the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
During an interview on Okay FM on July 25, 2023, Asiedu Nketiah expressed his lack of surprise regarding the reported theft of money from Cecilia Dapaah’s private residence. He voiced his belief that the current government and its appointees are engaged in accumulating personal wealth at the expense of deceiving ordinary citizens.
Nketiah expressed deep concern about the prevailing level of corruption within the administration and emphasized the need for swift and decisive action to hold those responsible accountable.
“For Cecilia Dapaah’s case, I am not surprised because we have been saying often times that the aim of this government is to deceive Ghanaians to amass wealth and use the same wealth to stay in power.
“So, they acquire such monies, they always make sure that it is distributed equally to everyone who might have an interest in investigations to silence them, so it is God’s doing that this case has exposed them and because the money was enough, she couldn’t even realize that some have been stolen,” he said.
The NDC National Chairman stressed the need for action once more, saying that the Special Prosecutor should request that all government appointees submit their passports and order a statewide search of their homes if Ghana is sincere about fighting corruption.
He voiced the opinion that the money that would be recovered from such an operation might be greater than the bailout amount Ghana is requesting from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“If we are serious as a country today, the Special Prosecutor would have ordered that all government appointees should submit their passports, ministers and every appointee, then we search everybody, a nationwide swoop to check every minister’s residence.
The amount we receive will be greater than the loan we are receiving from the IMF, in my opinion, because they mismanaged the money and distributed it to us while preaching that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine caused our hardships even though we did not cast our votes for either country.
“…so the monies are in their various houses and rooms, so they have the money but they don’t know where to keep them,” he added.
Since July 22, Cecilia Dapaah has resigned from her job as a minister. Following a search of her home, the Special Prosecutor detained Cecilia Dapaah and granted her bail.
The Attorney-General has been consulted by police over the theft case docket that was reported by the minister and her spouse.
Some of the former minister’s family members have, however, also been questioned regarding the stolen funds from her Abelemkpe home, which prompted her resignation from office and the ongoing investigation by the Office of the Special Prosecutor.