By William
Yaw Owusu
Saturday
April 14, 2018
It has emerged that about 48 Members
of Parliament (MPs), who served as ministers under the previous National
Democratic Congress (NDC) administration, are said to have received double
salaries.
They are being investigated by the
Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.
Interestingly, those who are very
vocal are not part of the ‘double taker’ salary ministers.
Earlier report suggested that 25
MPs had been invited by the police.
Documents available to DAILY
GUIDE indicate that about 48 former NDC appointees were involved, with
some of them admitting taking double salaries.
The police said the alleged action
by the MPs “is contrary to Section 124 (1) of the Criminal and other Offence
Act 1960 (Act 29) as amended in 2012, Act 849. Section 124 relates
to the offence of stealing.”
A list sighted by DAILY GUIDE showed that a good
number of the ministers, who served under former President John Mahama, took
double salaries for four years, whilst others received double salaries for two
and three years, probably because they were reshuffled.
In 2012, four of ministers took double salaries, and are currently not
serving in parliament, but by 2013 the double salaried appointees had increased
to 22 while in 2014 about 18 were said to be involved.
For 2015 and 2016, 15 and 12 appointtees took double salaries
respectively.
From 2012 to 2016 when the NDC was booted out of office, some of the
appointees were captured in all the data collated as having received double
salaries.
This list showed that the appointees received double salaries at least
once a month, whilst others received them monthly throughout the years.
On Thursday, the CID said that it had
not suspended any investigations into allegations.
That response followed a claim by
the minority MPs that the CID boss had embarrassed them by inviting them over
the issue.
A communication issued by the CID indicated
that some NDC MPs, who were invited over the allegations, would again be
summoned by the CID for questioning.
Initially, 25 NDC MPs were said to
have been invited by the CID, but the minority in parliament held a press
conference on Tuesday and attacked the CID boss and DAILY GUIDE over the
invitation and the publication of the story respectively.
But the Second Deputy Speaker of
Parliament and NDC MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, Alban Bagbin, who was cited among the initial
25 invited by the police, is said to be very furious with some members of his
own party whom he is accusing of leaking the names of the affected NDC MPs to
the CID.
On his twitter handle on Wednesday, April 11 after
the minority’s press conference, Mr Alban Bagbin alleged that some selfish
individuals wanting to lead the party might have leaked the names to the CID.
“If anybody thinks that leaking our names to the
police CID thwarts our chances and advances their selfish claim to leadership
in our party, then my brother, think again because when we go down, we go down
together. A word to the wise…,” according to the tweet.
In the new communication, the CID indicated that all those MPs would have to provide more information to help it properly investigate the matter.
The CID, which is investigating the
matter, earlier invited and met with some of the accused MPs but has now said
they would be recalled for further questioning by the Director-General of the
CID.
It, however, did not state the exact date they would be invited again.
“Prior to the invitation of the affected MPs, the CID duly notified the leadership of parliament.”
It, however, did not state the exact date they would be invited again.
“Prior to the invitation of the affected MPs, the CID duly notified the leadership of parliament.”
The police assured the
public that due process would be followed in the investigation into the matter,
the letter stated.
Meanwhile, some cadres of the party in the Greater Accra Region have described the indictment of ex-ministers over the supposed double salaries as a misadventure.
Meanwhile, some cadres of the party in the Greater Accra Region have described the indictment of ex-ministers over the supposed double salaries as a misadventure.
Fred Atsu Anthony and
Nelson Adu, the two cadres who addressed a news conference in Accra yesterday,
said it was a well-known fact that MPs do not receive their salaries and
benefits until they had finished serving their tenure at which point the
government would have set up a committee to determine their benefits.
“Since those benefits are
determined by a committee, how can anyone claim that any MP has received double
salaries?” Mr Anthony quizzed.
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