The chamber of Ghana’s parliament[/caption]
Investigations into MPs who allegedly took double salary whilst serving as ministers should not be limited to the Mahama-led administration, Prof. Clement Dzidonu, President of Accra Institute of Technology, has advocated.
The spotlight, he told TV3’s New Day on Saturday, should be thrown on MPs who served as ministers under Atta Mills, John Kufuor and Jerry Rawlings governments as well.
He insisted that former officials should be made to refund every penny, if proven that any of them received double salary.
“Investigations should go way back…has this been going on way back, during Rawlings’ government, during Kufuor’s government, during Atta Mills’ government, the Mahama government, any kind of government?,” he stressed, “can we call all those people, from Rawlings’ government, Kufuor’s government, Atta Mills’ government to come and refund that money?”
It was revealed last week that the Criminal Investigation Department of the police has been on the case of at least 20 MPs who served under the Mahama administration as ministers and allegedly receiving double salary.
The MPs have denied the allegation with the Minority National Democratic Congress in Parliament accusing the government of witch hunting. Their lawyers have written to the CID protesting and demanding details of the claims. Read More
“If is true that these people have collected double [considering the ‘big salary’ they take, then] it’s serious; if it is not true that they received double salary it’s also serious,” Prof. Dzidonu weighed the impact of the allegation.
He is also curious how the CID got involved in a pay anomaly between an employer and employees, raising questions as to why the employer would pay people double salary for several months.
He believes government should have first notified the former officials about the issue and demanded a refund. When the officials refused to refund the money before the case can be referred to the CID, he noted.
Dr. Kwabena Nyarko a member of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) was worried the issue has been given a political twist.
Issue of double pay, he observed, is something that do occur frequently among ordinary workers.
“So if there is evidence like Prof. Dzidonu said, just write to the affected people, ask them to refund the money, if they don’t before you proceed on some criminal tangent,” Dr. Nyarko stated, “we need to retrace our step back and follow the procedure of handling such issues when they do occur.”
