Kitchen Scandal: Okudzeto Ablakwa calls on Ministry of Finance to act on the matter

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has expressed worry over the silence of the Ministry of Finance on the alleged Kitchen Scandal.

Okudzeto Ablakwa called on the Ministry of Finance to explain to Ghanaians why they were tolerating Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko’s threat in the face of the Value for Money Assessment Report which was submitted to the Ministry on August 11, 2023.

He said his quest to bring to light corrupt acts in the public domain is still on course to ensure that such individuals are brought to the book.

In a Twitter post on Monday, August 7, 2023, the MP for North Tongu urged the ministry to take swift action because the GH¢180 million involved in the Kitchen scandal could be used to ameliorate the plight of Ghanaians.

“The silence of the Ministry of Finance many days after the “Kitchen Scandal” broke is most deafening. They must be explaining to Ghanaians why they were entertaining Gabby’s threats in the face of the Value for Money Assessment Report submitted to the Ministry on August 11, must be accountable to us.

“No matter Gabby’s spin and chicanery, he has been exposed, and we the sovereign people will ensure that we scuttle this grand scheme by the “Kitchen Cabinet” to continue with their insatiable state capture and deny the Ghanaian people a staggering GHS187.3 million of our taxes which could be used to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses under this bankrupt economy. For God and Country,” he wrote in a Twitter post.

Background

In the publication, the MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa alleged that Gabby, cousin of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was seeking to enforce payment of the said sum to his client, West Blue, even though the current government has varied the contract.

In a response issued on Friday, August 4, 2023, Gabby maintained that his firm was engaged in a rather legitimate duty on behalf of their client.

According to him, his firm has since April 2021 been engaged by West Blue Ghana Limited to assist the company recover an amount of GH¢187,356,969 being outstanding payments due it from the Government of the Republic of Ghana under a contract dated 04 August 2015, and executed between West Blue, on one hand, and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), on the other hand.

This response appears not to sit well with the North Tongu legislator forcing him (Ablakwa) to reply Gabby. In a Facebook post on August 8, 2023, Ablakwa argued that Gabby's explanation fails to address the fundamental issue at stake because he was still relying on the contract signed in 2014 by the John Dramani Mahama administration.

He said that the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government did a value-for-money audit on the contract in question and conclude that West Blue rather owes the government of Ghana and not the other way round.

View the MP’s full post below:

The silence of the Ministry of Finance many days after the “Kitchen Scandal” broke is most deafening.

They must be explaining to Ghanaians why they were entertaining Gabby’s threats in the face of the Value for Money Assessment Report submitted to the Ministry on August 11, pic.twitter.com/N3t6VqEPZZ

— Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa (@S_OkudzetoAblak) August 7, 2023