The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has sparked another round of public angst as it clears the then Acting Chairperson of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Adelaide Ahwireng in yet another political appointee fingered for alleged corruption and conflict of interest.
Madam Ahwireng who owns a private company called Fio Enterprise used it to rented out two buildings at Agbogboloshie, to the GRA at a cost of about GHC 1.4 million annually for five years.
This is despite the fact that the GRA already has a commercial property fit for offices within the same area.
Director of Communication of the NPP Yaw Buabeng Asamoah in reports monitored today by Whatsup News said there was nothing wrong in the transaction that has received widespread public condemnation.
“The pricing was interrogated and it is sound price,” he insisted. “The lady was not even a board chair” of the GRA he said, referring to the fact that Madam Ahwireng has currently been replaced by Kwame Owusu from the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) who was himself cited for conflict of interest recently.
The NPP scribe whose utterances reflect the sentiments of the Akufo Addo-led ruling party, says the criticism of the transaction is “not fair to the lady.”
According to him, Ghanaians “have a right to interrogate her” but that should be done “in a proper contest.”
Meanwhile, a pressure group calling itself Youth for Accountable Governance has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), for a declaration that Acting Board Chairperson of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is unfit to hold office.
The petition dated September 9, 2019, and signed by three representatives, said Madame Adelaide Ahwireng has breached Ghana’s laws on conflict of interest and the code of conduct for public officers.
“It is the case of the Petitioners that Madam Adelaide Ahwireng, as acting Chairperson of GRA, superintended over the leasing of her firm’s properties to GRA without disclosing her interest. This puts her in a conflict of interest situation which she ignored and in the process, made private gains out of the transaction,” the group said.
“It is also the case of the Petitioners that Madam Adelaide Ahwireng violated article 284 of the 1992 constitution and Section 2.0 of the Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest Guidelines issued by CHRAJ,” the petitioners, wrote.