Mpraeso MP 'Exposes' Ablakwa On Staffers' Salaries

MP for Mpraeso, Mr Davis Opoku Ansah, has debunked claims by MP for North Tongu, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, that money spent on salaries of presidential staffers shot up by more than 500 per cent between 2020 and 2021.

Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, in a recent post on social media, claimed that money spent on presidential staffers increased from GHS136.2 to GHS823million from 2020 to 2021.

Mr Ablakwa attributed that to the packing of the presidency with "amorphous positions".

But in a sharp rebuttal, the Mpraeso MP, popularly referred to as OPK, said Mr Ablakwa as MP should know better and was peddling falsehood.

"Page 235, Appendix 4A of the budget explains compensations at the office of the Government machinery.

"The Nation’s Builders Corps (NABCO) takes 520 Million of the 736 Million cedis allocated to the OGM as compensation," he explained.

OPK also indicated that the collapsed Ministries of Special Inititiative and Zongo Development were part of the agencies, feeding into the GHS231 million allocated to the OGM Headquarters.

He could not fathom how an MP he said would "correct minor typographical errors in the votes and proceedings in the house...failed to cross-check these simple facts in the budget" and accused the North Tongu MP of engaging in "mischief".