You are all hypocrites — Maurice Ampaw attacks Mahama over Dapaah’s $1m stolen money
Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Maurice Ampaw has taken a swipe at critics of the theft incident at the residence of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour at Abelemkpe in Accra.
He said individuals attacking Cecilia Dapaah are hypocrites.
He argued that many Ghanaians themselves possess significant sums of money concealed in their homes.
Speaking on Wontumi TV, Ampaw said “Today if you ask for money from any Ghanaian, the person will tell you that they don’t have money, but the kind of money that people are having in this country…though a lot of people are suffering, most of them have money, they are…loaded.
“The hypocrisy of Ghanaians, you are all hypocrites, the monies that you people have that you have kept in your various homes…but you people are condemning Cecilia Dapaah as if she has committed a crime. If you like let us start with every politician in this country.”
He said: “Cecilia Dapaah’s US$1 million is someone’s chicken change money; someone spends much more than that money in less than one month. I was a lawyer for one of the collapsed banks and the owner disclosed to me that his wage bill alone is sixty-six billion Ghana cedis, wage bill alone, what is one million Ghana cedis?”
Earlier, John Mahama responded to the news of a theft incident at the residence of CeciliaDapaah.
Mahama in a Twitter post expressed his dismay, stating, “$1m + €300k and millions of GHS in a Ghanaian Minister’s home? Scandalous!!”
He questioned the decision to keep such substantial sums of money at home, even if they were acquired legitimately, and called into question whether President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would set a positive example for other public office holders in his administration.
But Maurice Ampaw accused Mahama, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of propagating hypocrisy by calling for the head of Cecilia Dapaah while having similar practices within their ranks.
According to him, it is unjust to single out the embattled former minister for condemnation when others might have engaged in similar financial misbehaviors without public scrutiny and described them as shameless.
“Shameless people, because of propaganda even today Mahama is also doing propaganda, You, President Mahama, look at the hypocrisy of President Mahama. President Mahama US$1 million is just a day’s money for you…because today you NDC people don’t have money and you are hungry…. for how many years from 2016 until now? How many years have you been in opposition?
“You people had money from 2008 to 2012, NDC, you made money and kept them in your houses same as Cecilia Dapaah did, some of you, hypocrisy all the NDC people,” he added.
Dapaah submitted her resignation letter to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Saturday, July 22, 2023, in response to a story about a theft case at her home in Abelemkpe, a suburb of Accra.
The case is currently being pursued at the Circuit Court, with five accused individuals charged with stealing money from Dapaah’s home.
Dapaah, who was initially appointed as Minister for Aviation in January 2017 before being reassigned to the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry, explained in her letter that she does not want her issues to affect the work of the government.
She also expressed her willingness to cooperate fully with any state agencies conducting investigations.
The media have been abuzz with reports about the alleged theft and the substantial sums of money that were supposedly stolen from Dapaah’s residence.
