Speaker Mike Oquaye
Parliament has denied allegations that Speaker Mike Oquaye has received rent allowances, despite the fact that he has been provided with an official accommodation.
The allegations came in the heat of investigations by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service which implicates some former ministers under the erstwhile John Dramani Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration for receiving double salaries as ministers and at the same time Members of Parliament (MPs).
Those MPs and ex-ministers who have been invited by the police have been given police inquiry bail with the charge of stealing.
In the midst of the damning allegations, some NDC elements were all over the place throwing mud at anyone, including Professor Mike Oquaye, apparently in a move to divert attention from the double salary scandal.
But parliament on Monday categorically stated that the speaker, by virtue of his position, is not entitled to a rent allowance which MPs receive at the beginning of every year.
A statement signed by Kate Addo, Acting Director of the Public Affairs Department of Parliament, has indicated that the speaker has been allocated an official residence and so he is not among those who receive the allowances.
According to the statement, he is however, yet to move into the official residence due to renovation works on it.
“The residence is yet to be handed over for full occupancy in May. The speaker was given a monthly stipend for rent while he waited to occupy his official residence,” the statement pointed out.
It stressed that it is “regrettable” to claim that the speaker of parliament was paid rent allowance while occupying his official residence.
It therefore, called on the media to cross-check facts on such matters before publishing stories.
BY Gibril Abdul Razak