Background of \u201ccash for seat\u201d saga<\/strong><\/p>\nThe 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.<\/p>\n
The allegation was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak in Parliament in December 2017.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s accounts.<\/p>\n
The allegation was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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. \nParliament subsequently formed a five-member bi-partisan committee to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n
The Committee held several public hearings and a few in-camera sessions that featured all parties named in the allegation, and those who made the allegation.<\/p>\n
The committee was supposed to present its report on January 24, 2018 but was subsequently given a one-week extension which was supposed to have elapsed on Wednesday January 31, 2018, but failed to do so.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Vice Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Alexander Abban has described as unfortunate, the failure of the adhoc committee that investigated the alleged extortion of some expatriates in the country during the 2017 Ghana Expatriates Business Awards, to resolve its differences before presenting its report to Parliament. The committee finally\u00a0presented its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":377574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58,10,11],"tags":[16704,11347,3,16768,2942],"yoast_head":"\n
Cash-for-seat committee's 'double report' unfortunate \u2013 MP - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n