General News of Wednesday, 18 July 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-07-18
Ras Mubarak is Member of Parliament for Kumbungu
NDC Member of Parliament for Kumbungu, Ras Mubarak, wants government and the security agencies to investigate and prosecute the current Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, for allegedly receiving double salary as a Minister of State and a Member of Parliament in the erstwhile Kufuor administration.
Reports indicate that some nine NDC MPs accused of receiving double salary maybe prosecuted after they were investigated by the CID, and a docket presented to the Attorney General.
But speaking on Citi TV’s Breakfast Daily, the Kumbungu legislator alleged that the current Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and four others were allegedly indicted in an audit report for similar offenses.
He is therefore demanding their prosecution.
“Five Ministers under President Kufuor were mentioned. The honourable Christopher Addai, he was a deputy Minister under President Kufuor. Samuel Kweku Obodai is also a deputy Minister who served under Kufuor. The honourable Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the current Majority Leader of Parliament who served as a Minister of state under President Kufuor. They were cited in the the Auditor’s General report for over-payment. Ernest Debrah and then Kofi Ameyaw a Deputy Minister, and per the recommendations of the Auditor General they were supposed to refund the over-payment.”
“There was no refund of the payment. The sadness is the selectivity and you see NPP apparatchiks including government functionaries, they are going to jail NDC appointees. We might as well be getting ready to jail our Majority leader of Parliament, to go after him and the four others from the Kufuor regime, who also took double salary.”
Background
Some NDC MPs allegedly received double salary while serving as both Members of Parliament and Ministers or Deputy Ministers.
25 of the MPs were initially asked to report to the police, but 18 of them were later asked to disregard that invitation.
The Police during its investigation interrogated a number of the accused MPs.
The Minority in Parliament had earlier denied the allegations against its members, saying no crime had been committed.
Per the dictates of public service, an official who occupies both positions is entitled to a single salary, usually equal to the level of a Minister of State.