Member of Parliament for Asawase, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, has responded to the ongoing controversy surrounding the disappearance of a significant amount of money from the residence of former sanitation minister, Cecilia Dapaah.
The MP, who previously referred to the former minister as a ‘mother’ during her tenure as Bantama MP, expressed that he was initially hesitant to accept the news when he first heard about it.
Despite being presented with a charge sheet, he inquired if the document had not been altered or fabricated, only becoming convinced of its authenticity afterwards.
“Initially when I heard it, I didn’t believe it, I thought it was the usual thing that we do to each other, just tell lies and escalate and exaggerate them until someone was showing me a court document,” he told Bridget Otoo on the August 7 edition of the On-On-One show.
“And I was like, are you really sure? … I still had my doubt that Hon Cecilia Dapaah, my former colleague, remember she represented Bantama and we were all in this chamber and I called her mother because we were all in the Ashanti Caucus, we respect each other.”
Muntaka stressed that as a minister, her committee always complained of lack of funds but that it was contradictory that she was keeping as much money in her house.
“When she comes into this House, sometimes her committee complains that there is nothing, there is nothing, there is nothing. Will all this there is nothing and there is this thing in your house, it looks contradictory for me, seriously,” he stressed.
He posed questions relative to the risks that came with keeping such monies in the house before taking a swipe at some of the politicians who were criticizing the embattled former MP.
“Why do you keep such large chunks of money in the house? Let’s assume without admitting that these monies are genuinely and sincerely acquired. What if that house got burnt, what if armed robbers came into the house… is it not safer in the bank?
“Let me admit, a lot of people who are equally screaming and saying things…you will be shocked that they are equally keeping the same kind of monies in their homes,” he added.
The Chronicle Newspaper on June 20 broke the news of missing monies and other valuables from the home of Cecilia Dapaah.