Minority request emergency sitting over ‘extortion’ of expatriates

The Minority in Parliament has called for emergency sitting over the alleged extortion of expatriates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry

They want the House to investigate allegations that levies were collected by the Ministry from expatriates in order for them to be allocated certain seats at the recent Ghana Expatriates Business Awards in Accra.

The request was contained in a memo to the Speaker, Prof Mike Ocquaye dated Wednesday, December 27, 2017, and signed by Minority Chief Whip and Asawase MP, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak and North Tongu MP, Okudzeto Ablakwa.

The memo forwarded to graphiconline have asked Prof. Mike Oquaye to summon a meeting of Parliament to consider the matter.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the allegation in Parliament.

According to him, expatriates were charged between $25,000 and $100,000 to reserve seats at the event.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

Below is the memo: