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Some Mahama ministers were taking double salaries according to report

The said politicians were receiving salaries as MPs and at the same time receiving their monthly salaries as ministers, contrary to the law.

According to Daily Guide, the ministers who doubled as Members of Parliament (MPs) are about 22 in number.

Reports indicate that some of the ministers involved have agreed to repay the money to the state after they were confronted by security agencies.

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The alleged scandal started sometime in 2012.

In February 2018, MP for Assin Central Kennedy Agyapong threatened to mention names of ministers who were involved in this scandal.

Subsequently, a former Minister of Power, Dr Kwabena Donkor, vehemently denied ever receiving double salaries as Minister and MP when the rumours emerged.

He argued that it was impossible for such a thing to happen as ministers who doubled as MPs had options and many 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.

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“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 the 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.”

This revelation if substantiated will reaffirm the allegations 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.

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

However, reports suggest 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.

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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.

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