According to Ernest Kofi Owusu-Bempah, deputy communications director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and their flagbearer John Dramani Mahama are acting hypocritically in their criticisms of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the former Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources Cecilia Abena Dapaah.
Former President Mahama was dared by Mr. Owusu-Bempah to swear by the well-known river god ‘Antoa’ deity if he had ever held more than $1,000,000 in his home.
In an interview with 3news.com on July 24, he said that while the NPP does not endorse Madam Cecilia Dapaah’s decision to retain this much money at home, the NDC should cease acting hypocritically in this regard.
“We condemn that act of the woman, we are not supporting the action of the woman which is why the OSP, established by NPP, is investigating the matter. At least the woman has shown integrity by resigning from the government.
“But the NDC should stop being hypocritical. The BNI and National Security should start going to the homes of the NDC bigwigs and John Mahama to see if they are also not allegedly keeping huge money in their homes. The OSP should be granted a search warrant to search Mahama’s house.
“John Mahama should come and swear by antoa if he hasn’t kept one million dollars before.
“Let me repeat, we are not saying we are not condemning what the woman has done but she is not the first person. NDC has no moral right to criticize the NPP for this.
“We are daring Mahama, if he is a man he should swear by antoa that he never kept more than this in his home before. If he can’t swear then he and his NDC should shut up. He doled out money to delegates to for his election, where did he get that money from? One million dollars is a chicken change to Mahama, he should give us a break.”
His comments come after Mr Mahama descended heavily on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for not setting any good example with his appointees after one of them was said to have kept millions of Dollars and thousands of Euros in hard currency at home.
Madam Dapaah was said to have kept $1 million, €300,000 and millions of undisclosed Ghana Cedis at home.
These monies were allegedly stolen by two house helps, for which they are standing trial at an Accra Circuit Court.
After this came to light, Mr Mahama took to his official Twitter page on Friday, July 21 to express disgust at such a move by a Minister of state. He described it as “scandalous”.
“Even if genuinely acquired, why keep millions of hard currencies at home?” he wondered in his tweet.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has searched the home of Cecilia Dapaah as part of an investigation into her action.
