The Minority is accusing government of acting through the Police CID to witch hunt appointees who served under the John Mahama-led administration.
They say reports that they took double salaries while in office are untrue, describing it as a fabrication by the government, Joy News’ Joseph Ackah-Blay reported on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra Tuesday, the Minority spokesperson on Finance, Ceasel Ato Forson said, “it is sad that the hitherto respected and highly professional CID is being forced by excessive political maneuvering and underhand tactics to make the noble organization blunder and lose its credibility.
“We know a witch hunt and we can see one when it is coming,” Mr Forson said.
A report by privately-owned Daily Guide newspaper, suggests that some 22 appointees in the erstwhile Mahama administration took double salaries.
The reports indicate that the Ministers, who were also Members of Parliament at the time, received salaries as Ministers and also did same as MPs, a situation which is against the law.
The paper also stated that when found out, some of the Ministers agreed to refund the monies to the state.
But Mr Forson, who is also MP for Ajumako Enyan Essiam constituency in the Central Region, said the report is inaccurate and that no former appointee received more than they were due.
This, he said, is telling in the u-turn the Police CID has made.
“In a bizarre twist, as we were readying to appear before the CID this week, the CID called some of our colleagues and informed them that they were no longer required to appear as they have made mistakes with 18 of the 25 Minority MPs originally contacted.”
The MP said the allegations are only “a figment of the imagination of the government that continues to betray the trust of the people.”
Mr Forson maintained there was been no wrongdoing on the part of the Minority and they are ready to submit to the highest standards of accountability, any day.
The government, in the Minority’s view, seems to be in a hurry to divert attention from its failings by its pathetic attempt to cow them into submission.
“We wish to send a crystal clear message to the Akufo-Addo government that the NDC Minority will not be intimidated nor cowed into shirking our democratic and constitutional duties
“We shall remain resolute and faithful to our mandate and the high expectations of the people who elected us to represent them in Parliament,” Mr Forson stated.
Source: Myjoyonline.com