Three first-time MPs accused of withholding overpaid salaries
Another MP is said to have refunded the amount
Bortianor Ngleshie Amanfro MP denies being overpaid
Three first-term Members of Parliament (MPs) of the governing New Patriotic Party, NPP, have been accused of withholding salaries wrongly paid to them by the state.
The trio are said to have refused to refund the sums ranging between GH¢131,000 and GH¢119,000, despite having been duly notified by the Controller and Accountant General.
The MPs in question include Sylvester Tetteh, MP for Bortianor Ngleshie Amanfro, Stephen Jalulah of Pru West and Kintampo South MP, Alexander Gyan, who allegedly pocketed GH¢131,000, GH¢119,000 and GH¢119,000 respectively.
They earned salaries as former CEOs and DCEs, respectively, in addition to their current salaries as MPs, a Citi news report stated.
The report stressed that Salaga North lawmaker, Alhassan Iddi, had refunded an overpaid sum of GH¢42,000 when he was notified by the Accountant General.
Sylvester Tetteh, a one-time Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority, NYA, has however dismissed the accusation and said he would demand an apology from the Accountant General.
He explained his position in an interview with Citi News: “It is unfortunate. That is not the case, and I am highly disappointed. I have never drawn a double salary, and I am a man of integrity. The day I was appointed CEO of the National Youth Authority, I worked for over 26 months for the authority, I was never paid a salary until I resigned.
“The processes were still ongoing. When I was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on the 7th of January, in February, I wrote to the Authority to process my salary as CEO for the NYA. They started the process, until March, and they asked me to go to the Comptroller and Accountant General to do my verification to be paid.“
Meanwhile, the Pru West MP has refunded the full amount of over GHC119,000 cedis wrongly paid him according to records available to Citi FM. He served as DCE before winning a seat in Parliament.
Executive Director of civil society group, the Alliance for Social Equity and Public Accountability, ASEPA, in an interview stated that his outfit was pursuing the issue which he put down to a payroll management problem.
“As we speak there are some Members of Parliament who were former DCEs whose accounts still kept recording payment of salaries as DCEs and also as MPs and you could see from the document that the Auditor General has asked them to refund them.
“It is very difficult to blame the MPs involved. This is a payroll management problem. There is a huge discrepancy in our payroll system and there must be a pragmatic step to address this anomaly,” Mensah Thompson said.
Source : Ghamnaweb