GII
THE GHANA Integrity Initiative (GII), an anti-graft body, has called on the Akufo-Addo government to “resurrect” some eight corruption cases including the double salary scandal that seems to have been largely abandoned.
Notable among the cases cited by GII are the double salary, metro mass transit and the ‘robbing the assemblies scandals’.
GII made the call at a press conference on Tuesday, December 18, 2018, in Accra. It expressed the belief that the aforementioned cases have been ‘neglected’ by the current administration.
Programmes Manager at GII, Mary Awelana, who addressed the media, asked the responsible agencies of state to provide updates on the cases in question.
Details of Cases
The double salary scandal involves some ex-ministers of the previous Mahama government who allegedly took salaries both as Members of Parliament (MPs) and as ministers.
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service launched an investigation into the double salary scandal and in July this year, submitted to the Attorney General (AG) for advice the docket of all the former ministers who were allegedly caught in the scandal.
Those investigated by the CID included Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, MP for Ellembelle and former Minister of Energy and Petroleum; Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo, MP for Kpone Katamanso, who was the former Greater Accra Regional Minister, as well as former Minister of State in charge of Social and Allied Institutions, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe Ghansah, who is NDC MP for Ada East.
ABA Fuseini, NDC MP for Sagnerigu and former Deputy Minister, Northern Region, was also there to a write statement.
Others were Second Deputy Minority Chief Whip, Eric Opoku, who is NDC MP for Asunafo South and former Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister; Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, a former Minister of Transport and NDC MP for Ketu South; Abdul Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, a former Minister of State at the presidency and MP for Wa Central and Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, a former Central Regional Minister and former MP for Mfantseman West.
The rest were Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, former Minister of Youth and Sports, who is also the current NDC MP for Odododiodioo; Alhassan Azong, former Minister of State in charge of Public Sector Reforms and former People’s National Convention MP for Builsa South Constituency, as well as Dr. Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, who served as Deputy Attorney General under President John Mahama.
Robbing The Assemblies
It would be recalled that in August 2017 Manasseh Azuri-Awuni of Joy News broke the ‘robbing the assemblies scandal’ in which Mahama’s government entered into shady contracts with companies belonging to the Jospong Group of Companies to provide various sanitation services.
The companies were reportedly paid millions of Ghana cedis but never rendered the services for which they were paid.
Manasseh, who recently indicated that he had lost hope in the Akufo-Addo government to tackle corruption, had cited that the ¢98 million fumigation scandal in which 11 Jospong companies were sole-sourced to provide services to the state. He also reported the ¢320 million shady landfills management contract with Waste Landfills Company Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group.
Demand
Ms. Awelana stated that “we demand of government, particularly state-mandated agencies to investigate and prosecute the status of several alleged cases of corruption which inundated the airwaves during the course of the year but unfortunately we still do not know their outcomes.”
According to her, government is duty-bound to inform Ghanaians about how far investigations have gone on both cases.
BY Melvin Tarlue