Member of the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi says government appointees distributing money does not directly imply corruption.
According to the Asante-Akim North Member of Parliament, the result of corruption is that decisions are altered to favour a particular party, therefore until the cycle is complete, not every form of bribery translates to corruption.
His comment follows allegations that the Chief Executive of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah distributed money to delegates ahead of the NPP Parliamentary primaries.
Commenting on the matter on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Mr Appiah-Kubi said “In this particular instance there is an allegation of the CEO having used public funds wrongly. Does it make it corruption?
“If you take money that does not belong to you from one position to the other to your benefit, that is stealing” he stated.
He continued “That may not necessarily be corruption but stealing because corruption will go beyond the stealing to identify the action of the receiver and situate it within the law and see whether it is inconsistent.”
The Asante Akim North Constituency MP justified his claims with the assertion that the CEO of NEIP has a mandate of providing support for start-ups and small businesses hence to completely understand the accusation of corruption, it must first be looked into to ascertain whether those who received the money were not beneficiaries of the government agency.
NPP primaries: I have unfinished business – Former MP says as she announces comeback
I’ve never hidden the source of my wealth – Nana Kwame Bediako