Joyce Bawah Mogtari, a spokesperson for former President John Dramani Mahama, has revealed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has approved corruption by accepting the resignation of Cecilia Dapaah as Minister of sanitation and water resources.
In a tweet, Bawah Mogtari said “Should we accept the resignation of Ghana’s #Sanitationminister as the solution to the conundrum of stolen money? please! Our president Nana Akufo-Addo has endorsed this act of corruption by praising her loyalty and “fidelity to” this corrupt government.”
Following her resignation as Minister of sanitation and water resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah was commended by President Akufo-Addo for her commitment to upholding the reputation of his administration. The President commended Madam Dapaah’s ministry efforts, describing it as outstanding and fruitful.
On Saturday, July 22, just 24 hours after the public discussion of her stolen money, Madam Abena Dapaah put in her resignation.
In an acceptance letter, the President expressed regret for the resignation and expressed confidence that the minister’s honesty while in office, would be proven.
“The work you undertook during your period in Government was excellent and productive, and I thank you for your wholehearted contribution and devotion to the progress of the Government and the Nation. I am confident, like you, that, at the end of the day, your integrity, whilst in office, will be fully established. I wish you the very best in all your endeavours.”
President Akufo-Addo
However, Cecilia Dapaah argued that the statistics (amount of money) being circulated in the media were inaccurate. She added that she is well aware of the significance of such rumors surrounding someone in her position and emphasized that those figures do not accurately reflect what she and her husband reported to the police.
She declared that she intended to work closely with all state authorities to help them fully gather the necessary information. She further stated that she has no doubt in the world that, at the conclusion of the proceedings, it will be conclusively proven that she acted honorably throughout her time in public service and that she will be totally absolved of all the accusations that have flooded the media over the few days.
GII Welcomes Resignation
The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) also applauded Cecilia Abena Dapaah’s resignation as the Minister of sanitation and water resources, which came 24 hours after news of the stolen money scandal broke.
According to Mary Addah, the GII’s Programs Manager, it is too early to say that the stolen money is the result of corruption.
“This is too early to make some corruption pronouncements, but the future is not looking good because there is no law in Ghana preventing people from keeping their money in their houses. However, if it has to do with a public officer, then it becomes worrying; particularly when the person is in an area where there are a lot of procurement happening.”
Mary Addah
Madam Addah encouraged the government and other pertinent state bodies to hire a private investigator to look into the situation.
“This is a critical matter of interest because apart from the fact that she is a public officer, this is a government that has espoused that we need to digitize our processes and make money easily accessible online. And so for such a person to have so much, such that $1 million of it is taken away without her knowing is very worrying.
“Again this is a person in a government where people’s investments have been touched during the domestic debt exchange programme and so, this can have the tendency of demotivating people from sending their money to the bank because a Minister stored money in her house.”
Mary Addah
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