On Monday July 24, 2023, the Minister of Sanitation and Water of Ghana, Cecilia Abena Dapaah was arrested on suspicion of corruption. While she thought she was doing well by going to the police to report a theft committed at her home, it is with great astonishment that she will find herself at the center of a huge political and financial scandal.
Anti-Corruption logo on chalkboard, photo credit: unplash
It’s quite unusual in Africa. Last Monday, Ghanaian police arrested the Minister of Sanitation on suspicion of corruption. Even if she was released a little later, we do not see how she will be able to get out of such a situation. For the moment, it is accused of having sums of which it is not, for the moment, able to justify the origin. In documents d’accusation, two employees of his house would have stolen several hundreds of thousands of euros, handbags and jewels in the room of the minister. However, the Minister strongly denies her allegations. Indeed, she claims that it would not be the exact sum that she and her husband declared to the police.
Unprecedented financial crisis
In Ghana, theinflation reached record levels. Indeed, the price of gasoline has doubled. The course of the local currency collapses, while the country’s debt flies away. It’s hard to believe that West Africa’s leading gold exporter and world‘s second largest cocoa producer is in such an uncomfortable position economically. With Covid-19 and the crisis in Ukraine, Ghana has suffered the brunt of a crisis from which it is struggling to recover.
Politics and Corruption in Ghana
Ghanaian politicians have a somewhat singular relationship with corruption. Every year there is at least one that makes the headlines. Today, Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water, is in the sights of justice. It should be remembered that in 2017, Ghanaian MPs called for investigations against the Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko. Indeed, he had tried to bribe some parliamentarians. He is said to have offered 3,000 cedi to MPs in order to have their vote for his appointment to the government. A year later, he was fired by the president. Then, recently, the president fired the Secretary of State for Finance, Charles Adu Boahen. In a documentary film, directed by investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the secretary of state promised access to gold mines in return for commissions.
photo credit: unlash
Ghana and corruption
Venality and corruption have become hallmarks of Ghanaian politics. Indeed, the rapport of the GCI indicates that corruption is worsening in Ghana. However, President Nana Akufo-Addo had made the fight against corruption one of his campaign promises. Ditto for Bola, the president of Nigeria. The Ghanaian president had even appointed a independent prosecutor. But he resigned shortly thereafter. This affair, which comes at a bad time, could seriously undermine the popularity rating of President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is already in bad shape in the polls. In order to counter this crisis, the country had requested a loan of three billion dollars from the IMF. This scandal, for sure, will not militate in favor of this loan.