C’ttee on "Cash-for-Seat" Saga Begins Public Hearing Today 

The five-member Committee constituted by Parliament to investigate the alleged extortion of expatriates who participated in the December 2017 Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) will begin public hearing today, January 11, 2018.

The members of the Committee previously sat on Monday to set out the modalities for their work.

The Committee’s sessions will be open to the public, with the members of the Minority who  called for the probe into the issue, the Ministry of Trade and other parties expected to give testimony.

The Minority earlier, expressed concerns after Parliament’s emergency sitting last week that the terms of reference for the Committee had not been spelt out by the Speaker when it was convened.

However, the Member of Parliament for Adenta and a member of the Committee, Yaw Buaben Asamoah, indicated that the Committee was working with clearly defined terms of reference which had originated from the motion submitted by the Minority themselves.

The Committee is expected to submit its report to the House “as soon as possible, one day after our recall which is January 2018 24.”

The Committee has three members from the majority side:  Majority Chief Whip, Ameyaw Kyeremeh, Chairman of the Committee, Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Assibey Yeboah, and MP for Adentan, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah.

On the Minority side are Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzie, and the MP for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine.

Background:

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, however, disassociate itself from the matter saying, 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.

The organizers of the Awards also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

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