Duplicate Keys And Tamale Rentals: How Cecilia Dapaah Lost Millions In Cash From Her Home

• Sanitation minister Cecilia Dapaah lost millions in cash from her home after allegedly being robbed by two of her house helps
• The house helps allegedly used the monies stolen on properties like buildings and cars before being caught
• The minister has been criticised by Ghanaians, including former president John Mahama, for having such amounts of money in her home

According to court documents, the sanitation minister, Cecilia Dapaah, and her husband lost millions in cash ranging from dollars to euros and cedis between July and October 2022.

The said monies were allegedly stolen from the Minister's room in her home at Abelemkpe, a suburb of Accra.

The main suspects in the case are her current and former house help; 18-year-old Patience Botwe and 30-year-old Sarah Agyei respectively.

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According to court reports, the minister detected the theft in June when the current house help was caught after entering the minister’s room with a duplicate key.

The minister’s husband, Daniel Osei Kuffuor, returned home to find the bedroom open with noise coming from it.

He eventually found his house help hiding behind a door, leading to them realising the large sums of money were missing.

The amounts of money listed as having gone missing are $1 million, €300,000 and millions of Ghana cedis.

They are also accused of stealing clothes valued at GH¢95,000, handbags, perfumes, jewellery valued at $95,000, kente worth GH¢90,000 and six sets of men's suits valued at $3,000.

Escape to Tamale

Botwe was granted bail after an initial arrest, but she ran away to Tamale and went into hiding with her boyfriend.

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While in Tamale, they rented a three-bedroom flat costing GH¢105,600 and a shop costing GH¢120,000, according to reports.

Botwe was subsequently arrested and $40,000 and GH¢72,619.70 were retrieved from her.

New house purchased

The house help also bought a three-bedroom house for $70,000 at Amrahia and furnished.

In addition, she bought a Hyundai Elantra costing GH¢80,000 for her boyfriend.

She also gave her father GH¢50,000 and GH¢1million to an ex-boyfriend.

Partnership with former house help

Botwe had been conspiring with Agyei to steal from the minister, according to reports from the court.

Agyei allegedly kept watch as Botwe stole from the minister’s bedroom.

The former house help was arrested at Budumburam during investigations.

She had used the stolen money to build a three-bedroom house.

Court case

In all, five persons are standing trial at a circuit court in Accra following the theft of the monies.

In addition to the two main suspects, Benjamin, a 29-year-old plumber, Kweku Botwe, aged 65 years and Malik Dauda, 23, are being prosecuted.

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The case has been adjourned to August 2, 2023.

Criticism of minister

The minister has faced a lot of criticism online from Ghanaians, as well as allegations of corruption.

YEN.com.gh reported that former President John Mahama described the situation as scandalous because of the amount of money that went missing from the minister's home.

The last time Dapaah courted this much controversy, it was after she berated a young journalist sent to interview her.

Source: YEN.com.gh