Ghana’s minister of sanitation and water resources resigned on Saturday following accusations that workers discovered and took stashes of local and international currency from her residence. She claimed this in a letter to the president, denying any wrongdoing.
Cecilia Dapaah made news on Friday when two former home employees were charged with stealing money and personal goods from the minister and her husband between July and October 2022.
Prosecutors informed the court that the accused used stolen money to buy residences and a vehicle, as well as give part of it to relatives. They have yet to respond to the allegations.
But newspaper reports on the $1 million, 300,000 euros, and millions of local cedis allegedly stolen from Dapaah’s home sparked outrage against the minister on social media and calls for her resignation.
Many questioned the origins of such sums of cash in a country where some members of President Akufo-Addo’s government have been embroiled in corruption scandals.
“Whereas I can state emphatically that those figures do not represent correctly what my husband and I reported to the police, I am very much aware of the import of such stories around someone in my position,” Dapaah said in her resignation letter.
“I do not want this matter to become a preoccupation of the government,” she said, adding that she would “no doubt” be exonerated.
The presidency accepted Dapaah’s resignation and lauded her work without commenting on the allegations.
Dapaah was appointed minister of sanitation and water resources when Akufo-Addo took power in 2017 and retained it when he was re-elected in 2021.
The president has vowed to crack down on corruption.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")