The Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Patricia Appiagyei, says she has returned GH¢70,000 allocated to her for the vetting of recent ministerial nominees and three Supreme Court Justices.
This was contained in a memo dated September 2, 2026, and addressed to the Minority Chief Whip and Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP, Frank Annoh-Dompreh.
In the memo, Mrs Appiagyei said the money had been presented to her as an advance from the Majority Chief Whip, but she had no knowledge of its original source and could not accept money whose source was unclear.
“It is with regret that I return the amount of seventy thousand cedis (GHS70,000.00) allocated to me as an advance of money from the Majority Chief Whip of Parliament of Ghana. I am returning the money on the basis of the fact that, primarily, I do not know the source of the money being given to me,” the Deputy Minority Leader said.
She further stated that she was uncomfortable receiving any financial benefit linked to the vetting of colleagues appointed to national positions, specifically the vetting of former Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga and Environment Minister Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.
During the vetting on August 27, the Minority members of the Appointments Committee walked out, protesting what they described as irregularities in the procedure adopted by the committee’s leadership.
“My first reason is the fact that I do not want to enjoy any financial benefit under any circumstances to vet our own colleagues in leadership from the other side, being either Hon. Mahama Ayariga or Hon. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.
“Due to the Minority’s protest and non-participation in the vetting of the three Judges… on a matter of principle, I consider it totally unthinkable that I should enjoy any gift presented by any of the above judges.”
This development has raised a debate about whether the said amount was a bribe to approve the nominees.
