An Economist and Risk Analyst says he was astounded when he heard about the huge sums of money allegedly stolen from the residence of the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Abena Dapaah and her husband.

According to Dr Theo Acheampong, the alleged stolen money from Madam Cecilia Dapaah’s house by her two househelps is very huge and must be of concern to Ghanaians.

He explained that the $1 million alone could build about 14 six-classroom unit blocks in the country.

“One million dollars just for the purposes of our listeners, today the exchange rate is like 11.5 - so that’s 11 million or 11.5 million Ghana Cedis.

“To build a six-unit block classroom in Ghana will cost you roughly about GH₵‎800 thousand so that one million dollars or 11.5 million dollars can build about 14 six-unit classroom blocks,” he said.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, the Risk Analyst said he was surprised to hear that Madam Cecilia Dapaah and her husband could not notice the theft initially.

Dr Acheampong asserted that the couple could have had a lot of money stashed at their home and thus called for an investigation into the source of their wealth.

“Since she became a Minister, we know how much ministers earn in this country, we know what they are paid every month, we should be in a position to then establish whether these monies which she said were her property was actually earned legitimately or not.

“Because what is very clear and what we’ve all been talking about is that Ghana is not poor, and it looks as though it is the national cake that is residing in people's bedrooms, so we need to interrogate," he said.

He added that the investigation into the wealth of the Sanitation Minister must go beyond the court.

“The OSP must step in, we need to interrogate the source of wealth, how she came to acquire these monies."

Although there are suggestions that Madam Abena Dapaah acquired her money from her husband, Dr Acheampong said "It should be possible to prove that indeed; that it was a gift and the source of that money is indeed the husband.

"All these would have to be established in investigations beyond the current processes that are ongoing. That's why I think the OSP must step in, and we need to interrogate it because however we slice and dice, this is a major scandal that goes to put the government and the so-called fight against corruption and other things in a very bad light," the Economist said.

An Accra High Court was told that huge sums of money and other items of the Sanitation Minister and her husband, Daniel Osei Kuffour have been stolen from their Abelemkpe home.

According to the prosecution, the theft happened between July and October 2022.

Two househelps – Patience Botwe, 18, and Sarah Agyei, 30, and three others – are currently facing charges of stealing, involving amounts of US$1 million, €300,000, and millions of Ghana Cedis.

Madam Dapaah and her husband reported the theft case to the police in June of this year after Mr Kuffour [husband] allegedly caught one of the accused [Patience Botwe] red-handed in their room with a duplicate key, leading to her arrest.