The First Vice Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Dome-Kwabenya constituency, Paul Opoku, has opined that Madam Sedina Tamakloe, deserved a death sentence.
This comes after the Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), Sedina Tamakloe-Attionu has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labour, for causing financial loss to the state, theft, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and contravening public procurement laws.
The duo was also found guilty of misappropriating over 1.7 million Ghana cedis meant for a sensitization exercise, where only a fraction reached the intended beneficiaries. Similarly, funds meant for victims of a fire incident at Kantamanso were not fully disbursed, with a significant portion being appropriated by the accused.
“Imagine if the victims of the fire incident had gone for loans as capital and their capitals had gone down the drain due to the fire outbreak. The government decides to support these victims through MASLOC, only for the then CEO to keep some of the funds, denying the victims their support from the government. Such a crime is tantamount to a death sentence like what has happened in Vietnam. She’s denied people their livelihood”, he said.
He mentioned that the Judge was lenient with the judgement.
“In the course of the trial, Interpol should have started searching for her, and all her properties should have been located. Hence, right after the judgement, the Attorney General should have been in court requesting for a seizure of properties, since she’s currently out of town”, he added.
He furthered that prior to the 2008 elections, the NDC leveled a lot of corrupt activities against the NPP, and hence, about thirty people stood trial in court. However, none of them were found guilty. However, when the table turned, there are about thirty people who either did restitution, or are serving a jail term like the NCA officials.
“The ball is in the court of Ghanaians to judge and tell which political party is corrupt”, he said.