General News of Wednesday, 26 May 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

FLASHBACK: I exposed NDC MPs’ double salary because government wanted to cover up - Ken Agyapong

Kennedy Agyapong, a member of Parliament for Assin Central Kennedy Agyapong, a member of Parliament for Assin Central

In April 2018, Kennedy Agyapong, a member of Parliament for Assin Central claimed to be the person behind the double salary saga.

Kennedy Agyapong said that his decision to make the issue public was due to a lack of willingness on the part of the Minister for Monitoring and Evaluation to act on the recommendations of a committee that was set up to probe the issue.

He accused the minister, Dr Akoto Osei of ‘sitting’ on the report and not being interested in dealing with the issue.

Read the story below:

Read the full article as first published below by Mynewsgh:

It was initially the intention of government not to go after former John Mahama ministers and MPs who have been accused of taking double salaries, even after an investigative report on their alleged double salaries was concluded and submitted to Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation; MyNewsGh.com can authoritatively report from an authentic audio of Kennedy Agyapong which is attached.

According to the loud-mouthed MP who apparently speaks freely but forgets what he said when it appears online as written news, Dr Akoto was ‘sitting on the investigative report’ that indicted the NDC former Ministers.

He said Dr Akoto was holding on to the report until it came to his (Ken’s) attention and he approached Dr Akoto to find out why he was not releasing the report for action to be taken.

Ken Agyapong was speaking on Dialogue with Kennedy Agyapong on Net 2 TV Wednesday, followed keenly by MyNewsGh.com.

“The MPs thing, I will be honest with you”, he started.

“The case was investigated and was sitting there. They had finished conducting the investigation already. You understand? It was Dr Akoto (Anthony Akoto Osei) who had the files and he was sitting on it”, The outspoken NPP MP said.

Kennedy Agyapong revealed how he confronted Dr Akoto, because the NDC MPs were all over the place making noise and had to be dealt with.

“So when I got the information, I went to ask him [Akoto] and he said yes, it is true. He has the files but … [… …] and I said what! How? You have this information and you allow these guys to make noise. Let Ghanaians know who they are. America will let you know. When they appoint someone you take personal information about things he’s done, they act on it. But over here, they say it’s personal attack” he said.

“I just wanted Ghanaians to know who these MPs are.” He pointed out.

MyNewsGh.com is unable to confirm whether government was bidding its time to release the report on its own timing, or as Kennedy Agyapong alleged, government was shielding now indicted NDC MPs.

Kennedy Agyapong was the first to blow the cover of NDC Financier Alfred Woyome which led to investigations, the trial and retrieval of monies wrongly paid to Alfred Woyome. He also made ‘noise’ about some allegations against Stephen Opuni, former CEO of COCOBOD who is currently standing trial for causing financial loss to the state.

Background

The Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service yesterday invited four former ministers who served under the erstwhile NDC administration for questioning in regards to the double salary scandal. Several Members of Parliament and Ministers under the John Mahama administration have already reported to the CID Headquarters have been questioned on the double salary scandal.

Three of the invited MPs yesterday included Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, former Minister of Youth and Sports, who doubles as the current opposition NDC MP for Odododiodioo Constituency and Alhassan Azong, former minister of state in charge of Public Sector Reforms and former People’s National Convention (PNC) MP for Builsa South, were grilled by the CID. Inusah Fuseini, Alban Bagbin, Haruna Iddrisu, Armah Buah are among some of the names that have come up

Many more ministers and deputy ministers who served under then President John Dramani Mahama and his NDC government are expectedto appear at the CID Headquarters.