Accra, Dec. 21, – President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, through the Chief of Staff, has directed the Minster of
Trade, Mr Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen to make known publicly the facts concerning
the sponsorship of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA).
A statement signed by the
Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid, said this followed the President’s
perusal of the response of the Minister to his query on the issue in view of ‘a
public debate on alleged extortion of money from the Expatriate Business
Community for a seat at a “Presidential Table”’ at the awards ceremony.
“The Minister of Trade has since
responded to the President’s query; the facts as reported to the President do
not disclose any wrong doing on the part of the Minister or any Government
official,” the statement emphasised.
Meanwhile, following is the
statement released by Mr Kyerematen:
“My attention has been drawn to a
raging public debate on allegations of extortion of monies from Expatriate
Business Owners in the run up to an Awards event recently organized in Accra.
I wish to state categorically as
follows:
1. Neither His Excellency, the
President nor any official of the Presidency directly or indirectly, or even
remotely was connected with the said event. The President was invited as a
Special Guest of Honour and he graciously accepted the invitation and attended
the event.
2. The management and
organization of the event were initiated, directed and coordinated by the event
organizers, the Millennium Excellence Foundation (MEF) and facilitated by the
Ministry of Trade and Industry in line with its commitment to enhance
Public-Private sector collaboration.
3. The structure, form, content
and distribution of the Sponsorship package for the event are solely
attributable to the event organizers, and the Ministry had no role in the
design of the said package. For the avoidance of doubt, the letter signed by
the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry which has been sighted in the media
had no link to the sponsorship package.
4. As part of arrangements
towards the organization of the event, the Ministry of Trade and Industry
insisted that all monies raised in support of the event be paid into an Account
held by the Ministry to ensure financial integrity and accountability which the
organizers agreed to. It is therefore difficult to imagine how a government
institution seeking to extort monies from individuals would insist on issuing
official receipts.
5. The organizers of the event
were specifically instructed not to collect any monies to place
persons/organizations on the Presidential High Table for the event, and they
provided assurances that this will not happen. It is worth noting that all the
business executives who were seated at the Presidential High table, who
incidentally are Chief Executives of some of the top tier corporate entities In
Ghana, already have direct access to the President and do not need to pay
monies to Interact with him.
6. Following the event, the
Ministry In collaboration with the event organizers have audited the account
for the event and can confirm that an amount of Gh₵2,667,215.00 was raised against an expenditure o' Gh₵2,367,426,06.00. It is acknowledged
that the event organizers, as private sector commercial operators were entitled
to a fair return for their efforts in organizing the event.
However, it was also agreed with
the organisers that a portion of the additional funds realized from the event
in excess of expenditure, would be retained to support the organization of the
next Awards event For the avoidance of doubt, none of the individuals/companies
who sat on the Presidential High Table at the event made a contribution of
$100,000.00 prior to the event as being alleged. Indeed, there were
persons/companies seated at the Presidential High Table who did not make any
monetary contribution before or after the event.
From the information available to
the Ministry, there was no extortion or indication of extortion of monies from
any expatriate business owner as being alleged. Indeed, no single individual
has come out to make a claim of extortion.
7. It is also worth emphasizing
that, the nomination and selection of the award winners was professionally
managed by an International Audit firm, KPMG.
8. The event was a resounding success and
Expatriate Business Executives who spoke at the event all paid glowing tribute
to the commitment of the President to private sector development in Ghana, as
well as the novelty and importance of the event.
In conclusion, as the Sector
Minister responsible for Trade and Industry, I will be pleased to interrogate
any specific allegation in respect of any malfeasance that occurred in
connection with the organization of the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards event”.
GNA
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