VIDEO: NDC MP Gives Blow By Blow Account Of How Colleagues Were Bribed in Approval of Ministers and SC Justice

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Ricketts-Hagan

An MP from the minority side has alleged that some of his colleagues sold out during the vote to approve ministerial and judicial appointees of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

According to the MP for Cape Coast South, Kweku George Ricketts-Hagan, some of the NDC MPs used the strength of the minority caucus to reject the approval of the appointees in exchange for personal benefits from the government.

In an interview on TV3, Ricketts-Hagan claimed that the leadership of the minority caucus was aware that some of their members had been bought by the government. When asked if he was implying that some of the NDC MPs were bribed, Ricketts-Hagan replied, “Absolutely, no doubt.”

He further explained that their leadership told them the number of MPs on their side that the government had allegedly bought. “And is it a coincidence that the numbers happen to be the same?” he questioned.

Ricketts-Hagan added that during a meeting, their opponents informed them that they had bought their people, so they had to be careful with what they were trying to do.

These allegations come after the approval of Akufo-Addo’s latest batch of ministerial and judicial nominees by Parliament, which was met with mixed reactions.

Parliament approves all six nominees, two Supreme Court Justices after heated debate

All six ministerial nominees and two Supreme Court Justices were approved by Ghana’s parliament on Friday, March 24. The voting process was tense and followed a heated debate held the day before.

Speaker Alban Bagbin declared that all nominees received more than the required minimum of 138 votes, with three absent voters out of 275 eligible MPs.

However, some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) did not follow the party’s decision to vote against the approval of the nominees.

Among those approved were Kobina Tahiru Hammond as Minister of Trade and Industry, Bryan Acheampong as Minister of Food and Agriculture, Stephen Asamoah Boateng as Ministry of Chieftaincy, Mohammed Amin Adam as Minister of State (Ministry of Finance), Osei Bonsu Amoah as Ministry of Local Government, and Stephen Amoah as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.

The two Supreme Court nominees approved were George Kingsley Koomson, a Justice of the Court of Appeal, and Justice Ernest Yao Gaewu, a Justice of the High Court.

The approval process was controversial, with some NDC MPs allegedly not following party directives. Nonetheless, the Speaker of Parliament noted that all nominees received the required number of votes to be approved.