During public discussions between Attorney General Dr. Dominic Ayine and Gomoa Central MP Kwame Asare-Obeng (A Plus), founding president of IMANI Africa Franklin Cudjoe expressed concern about the unbridled impact of illegal political finance in Ghana’s democracy.
Cudjoe bemoaned the country’s apparent setback in the battle against dubious political funding in a social media post, writing:
“We have lost the battle against the light needed to be shone on illicit funds in our politics.”
Franklin Cudjoe went on to denounce what he called disingenuous posturing by certain political figures who had not previously disclosed their own campaign spending.
“Someone I asked to tell us the source of her multimillion-dollar campaign war chest for a failed MP project is so loud berating the AG to investigate himself over an allegation of receiving campaign funds,” he wrote. “Reminds me of pickpockets actively busy with their trade while watching arrested pickpockets being hanged in the public square.”
These remarks come after A Plus and Dr. Ayine got into a heated argument after the former accused the Attorney General of collecting dubious campaign contributions and giving Sanitation Levy proceeds to a close acquaintance. The accusations have been categorically refuted by Dr. Ayine, who has called them “palpable falsehoods.”
“I was never involved in the passage of the sanitation levy as I was not a member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, let alone being in a position to influence the position of the membership of the committee,” Dr. Ayine clarified during a press conference on April 30.
“If receiving donations for your campaign or getting a pickup is thievery or corruption, then there are 276 thieves in Parliament, including the person who was making the allegation himself”, he added.
