Stolen Cash: Akufo-Addo must ask Cecilia Dapaah to step aside for investigations – GII

Mary Awelana Addah, Acting Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, has asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to ask Cecilia Abena Dapaah, former Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, to step aside for investigations into stolen cash in her home.

That, she said, would help establish the source of the wealth of the Minister.

Her call comes on the back of reports that huge sums of money and other items belonging to Madam Dapaah, and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour, had been stolen from their Abelemkpe home.

The items stolen include US$1 million, €300,000, millions of Ghana Cedis, assorted clothes valued at GH¢95,000, handbags, perfumes, and jewellery valued at US$95,000.

Mrs Addah, speaking on an Accra-based Joy FM’s Newsfile, monitored by the Ghana News Agency, said considering the current economic problem, it was “shocking and seriously sad” for a Minister to stash such an amount in her home.

She said the President must “use this as an example of his commitment to fighting corruption by asking the Minister to step aside immediately for investigations to be carried out”.

“It’s been so disappointing in the past that whenever we have asked when issues of corruption have come up, we have not seen much action being taken. It is not enough to say you are providing agencies, which are fighting corruption with resources, but then the political will to act on instances such as this are not taking seriously.

"It is not enough for the President to continue to tell us that State institutions are acting while behind the scenes strings are being pulled to frustrate processes from occurring."

“We believe that for the President to redeem his image and then also take off that mantra that has been applied to him for some time now that he is a ‘clearing agent’, we believe this is a time for him to act and act swiftly,” she said.

“Ask this Minister to step aside and let the agencies of State take this thing up. I believe the OSP has shown in time past that he can do this and he will do it very well if allowed. And so, the President should let this woman step aside immediately, then it gives opportunity to do a thorough investigation.”

The anti-corruption campaigner also emphasised the need for inter-agency collaboration among the Ghana Revenue Authority, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, and the Economic and Organised Crime Office in investigating the issue.

She urged the public to provide information to the Office of the Special Prosecutor to enable it to carry out thorough investigations into the matter.

Professor Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Associate Professor of Law, University of Ghana, said though it was not unlawful to stash cash in one’s home, the legitimacy of the acquisition of the said amounts must be established.

“Keeping money in your home is not wrong but what money is it and what the money is being used for, because according to the facts, the money has been there for sometime and the people have been siphoning and they thought that they have also hit a jackpot and so they continued to do that.

"And they (Minister and husband) couldn’t even recognise that the money is being siphoned, that tells you that there is more to it than meet the eye,” he stated.

He called for a relook at the country’s Asset Declaration law to strengthen loopholes in it to address such cases while also urging the EOCO and other anti-corruption agencies to initiate probe into the issue.

Samuel Nartey George, Member of Parliament of Ningo-Prampram, urged the appropriate institutions to ensure that all retrieved properties from the accused persons were returned to the State until investigations into the matter was conducted and the truth established.