$100K saga unjustifiable – Ablakwa tells Committee

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said charging expatriate businessmen as much as $100,000 to sit by President Nana Akufo-Addo at an awards event last year, cannot be justified in any way.

According to him, there is everything wrong with that unacceptable arrangement.

Appearing before the five-member parliamentary committee formed by the Speaker of Parliament to probe the matter, Mr Ablakwa said on Thursday, 11 January that: “The fundamental issue has to do with whether it is appropriate, whether it is moral, whether it is ethical, whether it is legal for access to our president His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to be offered to the highest bidder.

“It is my contention that you cannot sell the prestige of the Office of the President, you cannot say that you are organising an award and that if you pay $100,000 or $75,000 you will be guaranteed access to the president first by sitting by him and secondly by having an exclusive private dinner with the president.

“It is my considered view that there is everything wrong with this arrangement, it is not appropriate, it cannot be justified in anyway,” he told the committee.

Earlier, Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak appeared before the committee.