In the heat of the clamour to pass the controversial Electronic Transfer (E-Levy) Bill in December last year, government attempted to shore up the numbers for the vote in Parliament.
MP for Dome Kwabenya, Sara Adwoa Safo who had been on leave in the US for some weeks was flown into the country to cast her vote to ensure that the bill was passed.
Though the passage was unsuccessful, questions have emerged about what it took to convince the MP including a said ¢120,000 paid into her account by the Chief of Staff.
Fresh details shared by Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, indicated that another ¢948,500 ($140,000) was spent on her chartered flight from the US for the said purpose.
Per his findings, the carrier hired for the task was a Gulfstream G-550 registered HB-JOE operated by Premium Jet AG based in Belgium, costing $4,800 an hour.
“With an 11-hour flight distance, payment of reposition fees (as it flew from Belgium to pick her up in the States), payment of one-way fees (as the business jet flies back home empty), crew per diem fees, landing and wait-time fees; it cost a staggering $140,000.00. At today’s exchange rate, that is ¢948,500.00,” he said.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, March 1, Mr Ablakwa expressed worry that such an amount will be spent lavishly in the face of an economy that experts say is on its knees at the expense of “the obnoxious E-Levy,” which is expected to bring the country ¢1.7 billion in revenue.
This ¢948,500, in addition to the Chief of Staff’s ¢120,000 amounts to a total of ¢1,068,500.
The development does not sit well with the Noth Tongu MP.
“Imagine what our country can do with ¢1 million in the midst of our economic challenges, NABCO demonstrations and labour agitations?” Mr Okudzeto quizzed.
Already, anti-graft campaigners including Crusaders Against Corruption Ghana (CACG), want an investigation into alleged monies paid by the Chief of Staff to the account of the MP for Dome-Kwabenya Constituency.