Minority Leader in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu, has said Ghana needs a new law that criminalizes unexplained wealth.

Unexplained wealth refers to valuable assets belonging to officials — or others in positions of power and influence — that are clearly incommensurate with their publicly-declared earnings or known business interests.

Mr Iddrisu told TV3’s Evelyn Tengmaa in an exclusive interview on Monday May 24 that this will help in the fight against corruption in the country.

He said this while assuring all supporters and members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Ghanaians in general that the opposition lawmakers are united in Parliament to hold the Akufo-Addo administration accountable.
The NDC’s side was faced with division especially after all the ministerial nominees of President Akufo-Addo were approved by the Appointments Committee of Parliament in spite of the concerns raised against some of the nominees by some leading members of the party.

The situation led to the resignation of North Tongu Lawmaker Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa from the Appointments Committee on Wednesday March 31.

Mr Ablakwa said in a letter addressed to the Speaker, Alban Kingsford Bagbin that the decision was taken “after days of careful reflection and thoughtful consideration.

“I shall like to state that the reasons for this difficult decision are both personal and on principle.”

Asked whether the Minority has resolved all the issued that knocked them before Parliament went on break, Mr Iddrisu who is also lawmaker for Tamale South told Evelyn that all the issues have been resolved.

“What I do know is a united minority caucus that is focused and determined to hold the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government accountable. There is increasing hardship in the country, affecting ordinary Ghanaians, there is increasing cases of corruption and abuse of office that is superintended by the Office of the president.

“There are still some major legislative gaps. I sincerely believe that Ghana should pass a new law on criminalizing unexplained wealth as part of our collective quest to deal with white-collar criminality, graft and economic crime.

“So don’t worry about us, we are very united. The party and the minority leader ship and its council of elders have discussed those matters thoroughly and we are guided by their wisdom and we are guided by what they want us to do.

“We will not let the country down, we will hold government accountable, that is what is expected of us. I do not think that the matter of approval of ministers should be the sole yardstick for measuring the performance of the minority leadership.”

The second meeting of the first session of the 8th Parliament is scheduled to begin tomorrow Tuesday May 25 at Ten O’clock at Parliament House, Accra.

This was announced in a statement released by the Public Affairs Department of Parliament on Monday May 24.

The meeting is expected to work on a number of Bills.

These include Ghana Standards Authority Bill, 2021, Exemptions Bill, 2021, Consumer Protection Bill, 2021, Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment) Bill, 2021, Advertising Council Bill, 2021.

Budget Performance in respect of the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the period of January to December.

Budget Performance in respect of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources for the period January to December, 2020 are among the papers to be preste3nded to the House this meeting.