President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has absolved the Trade Minister, Alan Kyerematen of any wrongful conduct regarding the "extortion" allegations against him and his Ministry.
According to a statement signed by the Information Minister Mustapha Hamid, following the President's query to the Trade Minister; "the facts, as reported to the President, do not disclose any wrong doing on the part of the Minister or any governmental official".
"The President has therefore asked the Minister to put those facts before the Ghanaian people," the statement further read.
The President's statement is in response to allegations by Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak on the floor of Parliament last Friday over alleged illegal charges imposed on expatriate businesses by the Ministry during the recent Ghana Expatriates Business Awards.
He revealed that the Ministry charged participants $100,000 to sit closer to the President at the awards held on Friday, December 8, 2017 at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra.
This resulted in a near fisticuffs between the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah and the Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa at Parliament when the latter was addressing the issue in an interview with the press.
Mr. Ablakwa described the move by the Trade Ministry as "extortion, dubious and unethical" and hoped the President and the Members of the Legislative House would sanction the sector Minister and his deputy.
Mr. Ahenkorah interrupted the interview accusing Mr. Ablakwa of being a thief.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
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My brother, i think you have made excellent points and i agree with you on almost everything you said, except that you failed to realize that in the statement from the Information Ministry, the President had directed the Trade Minister to put the facts before the Ghanaian public. Let wait and see. Good evening.
The government should be careful of the young mahama puppies.The npp government should are be careful of it appointees.The make money fast is what is killing the country.
Ride on Nana Addo the most incorruptible leader of all time. Next time ask sell your access for 500 million dollars after all you. Ignore NDC ***barred word*** and short memory. They will soon forget about this scandal so that you chop the booty cool. Nana nie anti corruption nie
Ablakwa is not sitting pretty, the whole allegation was a sham just to descredit the minister and his deputies and to sow discord in the npp. How one apologises for crimes baffles me. Thank God we ve a politically savvy President.
I think this PRESS RELEASE in itself is a joke. What were the facts as reported from Trade Minister. That response letter should have also been published as an attachment to press release. I think the NPP with all its intellects have been abysmal in dealing with this matter substantively right from the get go. The only person NPP should have authorised to speak on this matter in government when it first come up should have been the PRO of the Trade Ministry, not MPs or NPP Communicators. I watched one NPP guy on TV3 making a mess of a simple issue with his statements, and another on Metro TV making unsubstantiated comparisons with how money was raised for H.E Mills (RIP) funeral and this issue. The PRO explicitly stating the facts would have been enough to clear out all doubts, and that would have taken out politics from administrative governance, and saved government all this unnecessary Carlos' childish behaviour, etc. Personally, I think the PRESS RELEASE letter in itself is a joke. The public need to know/see the Trade Minister's response, and decide as a people whether something wrong was done or not, not just the a statement saying the President has cleared the Minister of any wrongdoing. I am not into politics, am just voicing my opinion and common sense. Party communication machinery should focus on party issues, and PROs focus on government issues; and common sense responses to cover the "grey" areas in between.
If Mahama had done this he would have been threatened with impeachment. It is sad how these people think. Has Nana ever admitted any wrong doing in his government? Even a corrupt CID police was promoted by Nana instead of being sacked. Where is Ghana heading?
Interesting development. I believe if John mahama had done the same with his appointees all corruption he would have still been in power. This npp government is the most phony government ever. You came to power riding on the back of corruption, yet every corruption accusation has been swept under the carpet. One is clear, man thinks he is wise but God is watching everything, sooner than later he will strike and there we shall see what will happen to those who preach virtue and practice vice. What was the essence of the battle is the Lord if all that you doing is covering up. God is not mocked, whatever a man sows he reaps, rest assured.
NDC KNOWS VERY WELL THAT AKUFFO ADDO SHALL CERTAINLY PUNISH CORRUPTION IN THE LAST NDC GOVERNMENT. IN FEAR OF THAT NDC IS WORKING HARD TO PUT BRAKES IN THE MOMENTUM TO FIGHT CORRUPTION. IT HAS THEREFORE TARGETED THE NPP GOVERNMENT AND MINISTERS TO LEVEL UNFOUNDED ALLEGATION OF CORRUPTION AGAINST THEM FOR POLITICAL EQUALIZATION. IT IS NECESSARY FOR NPP GOVERNMENT TO EXECUTE ITS DUTIES WITH OPENNESS AND TRANSPARENCY IN ORDER TO SILENCE ANY ATTEMPT OF THE OPPOSITION TO TARNISH ITS IMAGE.
Thank you so much for your complementary comments.The social interventions or projects have always been so dear to the heart of NPP. We saw the numerous soscial interventions like NHIS, School feeding Programm and what have you during Pr. Kufours Era. And Nana is continuing unlike the so called Social Democrats, the 'NDCis' who abolish everything social.
And that is exactly what Nana is doing. To an ordinary Ghanaian parent, if his/her ward enjoys Free SHS, Nursing Training Allowance, Teacher Training Allowance, Health Insurance... that will inform the person to vote who to be the next president. Nana has rendered NDC party u seless, in that they now have nothing to offer Ghanaians, except to find a way of misleading some Ghanaians. Their last hope is Charlotte Osei who they want to rig elections in their favor, otherwise why are they in full support of her, when 3 EC commissioners are facing impeachment. Who dont know the other commissioners are strong NDC members?