Barely 48 hours after news broke of an alleged theft of huge sums of money from the home of Cecilia Abena Dapaah, she tendered her resignation to President Nana Akufo-Addo.
The scandal erupted when reports surfaced that two house helps, 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei, were charged with a money heist involving US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana cedis.
The thefts reportedly occurred between July and October 2022 and included valuable items such as clothes, handbags, perfumes, jewellery, kente cloth, and suits belonging to Mrs Dapaah’s husband, worth thousands of dollars.
Amidst public outcry over the amount of money that was reported to have been kept at her home, Cecilia Dapaah announced her resignation on Saturday.
The contents of the resignation letter have generated intense debate on social media due in part to how it was couched.
Cecilia Dapaah who is said to be a close confidante of the president brought their relationship to bear as she penned her resignation letter asserting her innocence and vowing to cooperate fully with any state agencies investigating the matter.
She emphasized that she did not want the controversy to become “a hindrance to the work of government at such a crucial time.”
In her statement, Mrs Dapaah expressed confidence in her exoneration, stating her willingness to assist in establishing the facts of the case.
She stressed her commitment to integrity during her tenure in public service and maintained that the reported figures were exaggerated while acknowledging the gravity of such allegations against someone in her position.
“I intend to cooperate fully with all state agencies to enable them fully establish the facts,” the statement said.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that at the end of the processes, it will be fully established that I have conducted myself with integrity during my period in public service and I will be fully exonerated from all the allegations that have filled the public domain in the past 24 hours.”
Mrs Dapaah stood her ground on her complaint that the figures being reported had been exaggerated.
“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,” the statement added.
Despite the challenging circumstances, the former minister also took the opportunity to express gratitude to President Nana Akufo-Addo for the privilege of serving the nation of Ghana.
“I thank you, my dear, Mr President, for the honour done me in giving me the opportunity to serve our beautiful nation Ghana,” she concluded in her resignation letter.
