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Since the news broke of Hon Cecilia Abena Dapaah haven’t been rubbed of $1m, €300,000, $95,000 worth of jewelries, Ghc93,000 worth of hand bags and so on, many Ghanaians have expressed their opinion particularly, well meaning Ghanaians.

THE LAW
It is trite knowledge in the Ghana Constitution that an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty or pleading guilty - article 19(2)(c) of the 1992 Constitution. Most have argued that there’s not an explicit law in Ghana which seeks to directly incriminate the former Minister for keeping these monies in her house. Though I side with this school of thought to some extent, I think the Constitution provides us with some structures to build on.

It is imperative for us to avert our minds to article 78(3) and 286(4). For the purpose of this piece, article 78(3) states “A Minister of State shall not hold any other office of profit or emolument whether private or public and whether directly or indirectly unless otherwise permitted by the Speaker acting on the recommendations of a committee of Parliament on the ground.

(a) that holding that office will not prejudice the work of a Minister; and
(b) that no conflict of interest arises or would arise as a result of the Minister holding that office.

Even though this article isn’t absolutely barring or banning a Minister from holding any other office of profit making, the most important prerequisite is the permission aspect of it. Even if the Minister is engaging in any business of profit has she obtained the said permission from the Speaker of Parliament? If she hasn’t there arises the following questions;

1. Where did she then get the monies from?
2. Why keep such monies at home whereas she owns at least a bank account?
3. Who were those who paid her the monies and for what reason(s)?
4. In case its a gift, has she made declaration of it?

These questions are legitimate because there is no way the former Minister can ever earn this much out of her salary as a Minister even if she doesn’t spend a dime of her salary. Assuming without admitting that cumulatively she earned Ghc100k a month for 78 months that’s six years, six months in government, her savings will be Ghc7.8m which isn’t equivalent to the over Ghc16m we are talking about.

By virtue of the said Constitutional provision, the former Minister has a case to answer in law. Again, article 286(4) states “Any property or assets acquired by a public officer after the initial declaration required by clause (1) of this article and which is not reasonably attributable to income, gift, loan, inheritance or any other reasonable source shall be deemed to have been acquired in contravention of this Constitution. In respect of this, the former Minister though will be presumed innocent as stated in article 19(2)(c), she can be charged as flouting our laws if she is unable to explain the stolen monies. Though not explicit as opined abinitio, there are at least some reasonable provisions in our Constitution which we can ride on to prosecute this case. Thankfully, The Office of The Special Prosecutor Act, 2017 (Act 959) is there to do justice to this matter.

*THE ECONOMY*
One of the problem or setback in our economy today has been the depreciation of our currency. The factors to this problem obviously includes mad rush for foreign currencies thereby putting pressure on our cedi for the purpose of imports. If one person is hoarding this huge amount of foreign currencies in her room then of course we shall experience a depreciation in our currency which automatically will push prices of goods higher thereby causing inflation in the economy. The net effect of this will result in high cost of doing business and high cost of living. This even will further bring our standard of living down and life expectancy rate down as well. This singular act has consequential effects in the economy and must be checked. I must say our sufferings as a country is due to some of these act done by the Madam Cecilia Dapaah.

*THE COMMON SENSE*
Sometimes we need to as human make God proud of gifting to us sense. We need to sit and soberly reflect over certain acts and ask ourselves if it is in sync with common sense! How can you hoard all these monies whiles young graduates wander? Why keep all these whereas maternity wards are without beds for pregnant women and no oxygen at our hospitals causing people to die? Why keep all these at home whiles fertilizer is being sold to our poor cocoa farmers?

It is indeed a bizarre situation and must be strongly condemned!

Long live Ghana!

Sam Jerome
Western North Communication Officer - NDC