Mahama ministers in double salary scandal

Information reaching DAILY GUIDE indicates that some 22 ministers under the erstwhile Mahama administration were taking double salaries.

The information indicates that the ministers, who were Members of Parliament (MPs), were drawing salaries as MPs and at the same time receiving their monthly salaries as ministers, contrary to the law.

Some of the ministers involved are said to have agreed to refund the moneys back to the state when they were confronted by security agents.

The alleged scandal, DAILY GUIDE has gathered, started sometime in 2012.

The revelation seems to reaffirm claims by some civil society organisations and members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) that there had been massive acts of corruption by officers of the erstwhile NDC government.

Per the constitution, MPs, who are appointed ministers, may either choose to receive their salaries as ministers or take what their colleague MPs are taking – although other benefits are attached.

But DAILY GUIDE has gathered that most of the MPs, who were appointed ministers under the previous Mahama administration opted to receive the salaries as ministers – because they are a little higher than that of MPs.

Some of the names mentioned are Alban Bagbin, MP for Nadowli West in the Upper West Region; ET Mensah, one of the ‘three wise men’ under Mahama’s presidency and former MP for Ningo Prampram; Haruna Iddrisu, former Minister of Employment and Labour Relations and MP for Tamale South.

The rest are Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, former Petroleum Minister and MP for Ellembelle in the Western Region and Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, former Youth and Sports Minister and MP for Odododiodioo Constituency.

DAILY GUIDE will provide the full list of the ministers involved in the double salary scandal in subsequent editions.

Speaking on Accra-based Oman FM’s political analysis programme ‘Boiling Point’ sometime in February, outspoken Member of Parliament for Assin Central in the Central Region, Kennedy Agyapong, threatened to expose their names.

Last month, former Minister of Power, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, vehemently denied ever receiving double salaries as Minister and Member of Parliament when the rumours emerged.

He claimed it was impossible for any appointee to receive double salaries as many ministers who doubled as MPs rather opted to receive their salaries from parliament.

He could, however, not defend his colleague ministers and MPs as he was not certain whether they took double salaries or not.

He is reported to have said “I wish I could talk for everyone but I cannot. In that list my deputy, John Jinapor’s name is mentioned. John Jinapor was not an MP in 2016 so there must be something seriously wrong. What I know is that most women who are MPs, including the current crop of ministers, would not want any salaries from Flagstaff House because a ministerial appointment has no certainty; your parliamentary salary has certainty of a four-year period. And in our time the difference in salary between a cabinet minister and an MP was about a GH¢1,000.”