A private legal practitioner, Kweku Paintsil, says President Akufo-Addo's comments extolling and affirming the integrity of the immediate past Sanitation and Water Resources Minister, Cecilia Dapaah, is inappropriate and prejudicial.

The Minister resigned from her position on Friday, July 22, after reports emerged that she had stashed huge sums of money in her home, part of which had been stolen by two house helps who are now facing prosecution alongside other accomplices.

https://myjoyonline.com/sanitation-minister-cecilia-dapaah-resigns/

In her letter addressed to the President, Madam Dapaah explained that she decided to step down because she did not want this matter “to become a preoccupation of government and a hindrance to the work of government.”

However, President Akufo-Addo in accepting her resignation praised her for her loyalty and excellent work done during her tenure.

He also expressed his confidence in the former minister's integrity as if to suggest that she is not guilty of any corruption even before official investigations are carried out.

https://myjoyonline.com/i-am-confident-your-integrity-will-be-established-akufo-addo-on-cecilia-dapaah/

“I am confident like you, that, at the end of the day, your integrity whilst in office will be fully established,” he said.

But the private legal practitioner, Kweku Painstil says the president was not supposed to comment on the the Minister's integrity ahead of investigations into the matter.

According to him, commenting on her integrity only provides a level of assurance that she will come clean even if she is investigated.

“That is, you  are preparing the public's minds to accept only one conclusion, regardless of what happens.”

"I think it is highly prejudicial, and it is not proper for the president to express that confidence. If you have confidence fair enough, that is the main reason you appointed her in the first place. But in the current storm with due respect, I am not too sure that it is proper for the president before even an investigation to begin to express your confidence at this stage,” he said.

https://myjoyonline.com/i-applaud-your-loyalty-to-the-image-and-standing-of-government-akufo-addo-to-cecilia-dapaah/

Also, governance expert, Professor Baffour Agyemang Duah expressed his surprise at the president’s acceptance letter.

According to him, the president should have distanced himself from the matter in his response.

He further described the action as “premature”, adding that he expected the President “to have picked on Cecilia Dapaah’s own statement in her resignation letter pledging her cooperation with the investigative agencies.”

But a political scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr. Asah Asante sees nothing wrong with the President's statement.

According to him, the comment was not to compromise any investigation but to hope that, in the end, her image will be preserved because she was a government appointee.

“For me, it is an ordinary statement but that is to be expected from a president who has appointed somebody as a minister so that is not wrong at all,” he added.

https://myjoyonline.com/osp-arrests-questions-resigned-environment-minister-cecilia-dapaah-over-stolen-huge-cash/

The Office of the Special Prosecutor has placed the resigned minister under arrest for suspected corruption and corruption-related offences.

A statement issued by the OSP said “Ms. Dapaah is being questioned by authorised officers of the OSP.”