According to Spokesperson of the Committee, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, the Committee will hold no further public hearings.

Speaking to Citi News’ Parliamentary Correspondent, Duke Mensah Opoku, Buabeng Asamoah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Adenta,  indicated that they would work hard to meet their extended deadline of 31^st January, 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JZVpoDgCNxBIyWLax3L6lKqLjWf9Yr8j”]“Happily, the public sitting and all the sittings have come to an end; we appear to have collected sufficient information. The Committee will now go into the backroom, sit down and sift through the evidence and go to the business of report,” he added.

The Committee over the past few weeks has been probing the alleged payment of cash by the expatriate business community to sit close to the President at an Awards ceremony.

Others interrogated

So far, the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka, North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremateng as well as officials from the Millennium Excellence Foundation, organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards, and the Controller and Accountant General, have all appeared before the committee.

Committee’s timeline extended to January 31

The Committee had earlier been given a one-week extension after they requested for additional time which meant that they will now present the report to Parliament on January 31, 2018, instead of the original date of January 24.

Committee ‘secretly’ interrogates expatriates

The committee also secretly grilled some members of the expatriate community in-camera.

According to Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku, the expatriates appeared before the Committee on Tuesday, and were grilled for close to three hours.

Duke stated that the content of the interrogation was unknown, and may only be available when the Committee finally presents its report.

Background

The Ministry of Trade, which partnered the event organizers, Millennium Excellence Foundation, is alleged to have charged between $25,000 and $100,000, to enable expatriates to sit close to the President at the awards ceremony.

The allegation was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The allegation was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc2, 667,215 was realized from the event. This was made known only after the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had asked the Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen, to investigate the matter and report to him.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount was raised from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

Parliament subsequently formed a five-member bi-partisan committee to investigate the matter.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Commenting on the matter in public for the first time at his encounter with the media on Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo said he was convinced nothing illegal had taken place after hearing the Ministry of Trade’s side of the story.

[contextly_sidebar id=”jqSnUAApbenZH2uFVnqW5TpCeoaGfTFK”]President Akufo-Addo had initially asked the Minister of Trade, Alan Kyerematen to clear the air on the matter, before concluding that there was no wrongdoing after he received a report from the Minister.

“I was there at the occasion and nobody had made me aware that there was anything like people paying to sit next to me or anything. So it came as a surprise to me and I asked for an explanation and he [Alan Kyerematen] gave me a full account of the process that had been undertaken… I believe the statement he [Alan Kyeramaten] made to me is the very same statement that he made to the committee and it has been supported by virtually everybody that has been involved in the organization of the event.”

Despite the denials from the Ministry of Trade, the Speaker of Parliament directed the formation of a committee to probe the matter following a motion from the Minority MPs who championed the allegations; the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka and the North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Parliamentary probe will clear the air

This notwithstanding, the President said he was in favour of the probe and the transparency it has brought to the process.

“The fact that there is a public enquiry in itself, does not shake my own conviction that nothing untoward had taken place and that is the reason I took that position that I did, so that there can be no question that anybody is attempting to cover up anything, and people can see in the bright light of day on television what took place and make up for themselves their own mind whether or not something had gone on.”

Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Alan Kyerematen and officials from the Millennium Excellence Foundation, organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards, have all appeared before the committee to give testimony.

But none of the expatriates invited to testify before the committee showed up for the final day of sitting, forcing the Committee to adjourn the sitting indefinitely.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Cash-for-seat allegations surprised me’ – Nana Addo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Kyeremateng said those who sat by the President were 17 in number, ranging from top business executives to key political figures.

The Trade Minister gave the list when he appeared before the five-member Parliamentary committee investigating the matter.

Below is the full list of persons on the President’s table at the awards night:

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremateng

Carlos Ahenkorah, Deputy Trade Minister

Mr Ashim Morton, President of Millennium Excellence Foundation

Mr. Amarh Hari, Chief Executive of IPMC

Mr. Ashok Mohinani, Chairman of Mohinani Group

Mr Salem Kalmoni, Chief Executive of Japan Motors

Jerry John Rawlings and his wife

Mr. Saied Fakhry, Executive Chairman of Interplast Ghana Limited

Ms. Roshi Motman, Chief Executive of AirtelTigo Ghana

Mr. Jim Ovia, Founder and Executive Chairman of Zenith Bank Group

Mr Bhagwan Khubchandani, Chief Executive of Melcom Ghana.

Mr. David Haper, Chief Executive of Geodrill Ghana

Mr. Mike Tacwani, Chief Executive of B Pipe Plus Ghana

Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC

Yeo Ziobeieton, Chief Executive of Unilever Ghana

Ishmael Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Minister

No wrongdoing

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremateng also said his outfit did no wrong in the infamous cash for seat scandal.

According to him, a memorandum of understanding between the Ministry and the organizers of the event clearly spelt out which party was responsible for soliciting for sponsorship and collection of monies for the awards ceremony.

Making his submission to the committee probing the matter in parliament today, Mr Kyerematen said the Millennium Excellence Foundation, who were the event organizers, handled all issues of sponsorship.

Background

The allegation of extortion against expatriates at the awards ceremony was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President and that the amount was raised from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

Ablakwa, Muntaka face committee

The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Muntaka appeared before the committee in its first public sitting on Thursday to provide further details on why they called for the probe.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post ‘Cash for seat’ saga: Full list of people who sat by Nana Addo  appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 5-Member Committee chaired by Majority Chief Whip, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, commenced ts public hearings on Thursday receiving submissions of the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who first made the allegation, and North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Muntaka defended his allegation before the Committee, but told Citi News that he felt some of the Committee members sought to discredit him by their style of questioning.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also firmly justified his claims that indeed the Ministry extorted monies from the expatriates. He called for an independent audit of the accounts used by the organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) ceremony, which was held in December 2017.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Vqr4ajo6tgvoRAo7jvFZa5KYNj1HO5yq”]The Committee has up to the 24^th of January to submit its report.

The Trade Ministry, which is at the Center of the allegations has on previous occasions denied any wrongdoing in the matter. However, they are expected to make their case formally known before the 5-member committee

A Member of the Committee and MP for Adenta, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, who speaks for the committee said it is unclear how many witnesses the Ministry will present to make their case.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter, clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expatriates saga: Trade Ministry to face parliament c’ttee today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The members of the Committee previously sat on Monday to set out the modalities for their work.

[contextly_sidebar id=”66QKOPZCAbSrNDjUeWQBa3NQfl30haA0″]The Committee’s sessions will be open to the public, with the members of the Minority who had called for the probe into the matter, the Ministry of Trade and other parties expected to give testimony.

‘Terms of reference’ 

The Minority had expressed concerns after Parliament’s emergency sitting last week that the terms of reference for the Committee had not been spelt out by the Speaker when it was convened.

But the Member of Parliament for Adenta and a member of the Committee, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, indicated that the Committee was working with clearly defined terms of reference which had originated from the motion submitted by the Minority themselves.

The Committee is expected to submit its report to the House “as soon as possible, one day after our recall which is 24th [January 2018].”

The Committee has three members of the Majority namely Ameyaw Kyeremeh, Majority Chief Whip, who will Chair the Committee, Dr. Assibey Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, and Yaw Buabeng Asamoah, MP for Adentan.

On the Minority side are James Klutsey Avedzie, Deputy Minority Leader, and Dominic Ayine, the MP for Bolgatanga East.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

–

By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expatriates saga: Ad-hoc committee sits today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, it is standard international practice to offer table sponsorship packages to attendees of such an event in order to raise funds.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RH7WKVVNFhiFAiKpn8hxI1nlN9lqu3tu”]Mr Cudjoe, however, added that it would be wrong if the expatriates were compelled to pay those amounts in order to get seats at the event.

He noted that the reason the issue became a public discussion is that the Trade Ministry did not handle the whole process well.

“My personal opinion is that the Trade Ministry handled this thing quite poorly. Secondly, I have to also say that if you organize a formal programme with business people, there is actually nothing entirely wrong if they paid for tables…unless of course, those sums were indeed extorted. We have to differentiate the two.”

Franklin Cudjoe argued that “if the sums were not extorted and to the extent that it was a business meeting, and people wanted to sit close to the president there is nothing wrong.”

“I would have thought that if the tables were sold in a manner that made people feel that I’m being made to pay a sum that I don’t like, that’s the difference here. It’s standard practice but I think it was poorly executed by the Ministry, of course that is what I feel,” he added.

The IMANI boss made the remark on Citi FM’s new analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday when the issue came up for review in relation to the setting up of a five-member Parliamentary Committee to investigate the matter.

Background

The Ministry of Trade allegedly charged expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000, to enable them sit close to the President at the awards ceremony, which was organised by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

Despite the President clearing the Trade Ministry of any wrongdoing in the matter, the Speaker of Parliament recalled the House on Friday, January 5, 2017, to consider a motion submitted by the Minority Chief Whip in Parliament, Muntaka Mubarak for the setting up of the adhoc committee which was then tasked to probe the claims.

The Committee has until January 25, 2017 to submit its report.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post ‘Cash for seats’ at business events standard practice – IMANI Boss appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry has been accused of charging expatriates between $25,000 and $100,000 to enable them to sit close to the President at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards on December 8.

[contextly_sidebar id=”p23Kz5I27IAKCD3PxMuEkI5TRtEJRpl6″]This allegation has since generated controversy, resulting in a brawl in Parliament between two Members of Parliament, Carlos Ahenkorah and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Speaking to Citi News following the turn of events, Muntaka Mubarak said the investigation will establish the veracity of the allegations and put the matter to rest.

“Only when you investigate them and get to the very bottom that you get to know who might have been doing this because if someone says that pay $100,000 or $75,000 and apart from this meeting you are going to be also having an exclusive meeting with the President, this is the biggest opportunity for Parliament to redeem itself. Investigate this!”

How it started

The allegation was first made by Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mubarak, who said it was inappropriate.

The Asawase legislator argued that the fees charged at the event were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, and that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The Ministry however in a statement challenging the claims, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event.

It added that, it only facilitated the implementation of the new initiative [GEBA], by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events.

“As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative. The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilization to ensure that the event was organized at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation”.

“The Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements,” excerpts of the statement said.

This was however disputed by the Minority in Parliament, who in a statement issued through Okudzeto Ablakwa, insisted that the Ministry’s own letter dated October 23, 2017, confirmed that it went beyond facilitation, to actually collect monies from the expatriates.

It said that letter also directed that interested expatriates were to direct their cheques to the accounts office of the Trade Ministry, although such monies were not accounted for by the Ministry

President Akuffo Addo subsequently wrote to the Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, demanding answers from him over the allegations.

We’re ready to provide evidence – Ablakwa

Meanwhile, Mr. Ablakwa has indicated that the Minority is willing to submit evidence of extortion in the allegations against the Trade and Industry Ministry, and the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

The President of the Foundation, Ashim Morton, had refuted the extortion allegations leveled against the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

But speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Ablakwa said Mr. Morton was only trying to be clever with his response.

“He [Mr. Morton] says that of the funds collected, nobody paid before the event. He is choosing his words, playing smart with us by saying that nobody paid before the event because he knows we have receipts that we will be putting out of people who paid and the dates the receipts were issued. He is trying to play clever saying that nobody paid before the event, so how about after?”

Money collected from expatriates was for fundraising – Organizers

But even the claims by Mr. Morton, somehow contradicts the accounts of the Chairman of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, Victor Gbeho, who said monies were given willingly as sponsorship for the event, and that cannot constitute extortion.

“All our ceremonies are based on funds that we realise. We have no other source of money except what we raise for each occasion and in this case, we asked the Ministry of Trade and Industry if it was going to be our partner, and give us an introduction to the business community,” Mr. Gbeho explained.

Because of the variance in the donations received, he said it was only right that the higher donors were favoured.

“In some of the awards [ceremonies], there is the platinum, then gold and then the silver [categories], all for protocol, if we come to you and you give us GHc 20,000 and somebody else gives us GHc 150,000, it will be the highest form of perversion of principles if the one that gave GHc 20,000 is going to be given more special treatment than the one who gave GHc 150,000.”

“It doesn’t mean that anyone was being compelled. Those who gave [donations] gave of their free will knowing very well the categories that we had,” Mr. Gbeho added.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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