Asokwa MP Patricia Appiagyei Returns Purported GH¢70,000 Appointments Committee Payment

• Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Appiagyei returned GH¢70,000 linked to Parliament's Appointments Committee work
• Appiagyei said she was uncomfortable receiving any financial benefit tied to the vetting of Majority colleagues
• The Asokwa MP also cited the Minority's walkout during the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees on August 27

Patricia Appiagyei, Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Asokwa, has returned GH¢70,000 she received in connection with the work of Parliament's Appointments Committee, questioning both the origin of the funds and the appropriateness of accepting them.

In a memorandum dated September 2, 2026, addressed to Minority Chief Whip and Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Appiagyei stated that the money had been presented to her as an advance from the Majority Chief Whip, but that she had no information about where it originally came from.

"It is with regret that I return the amount of seventy thousand cedis (GHS70,000.00) allocated to me as an advance of money from the Majority Chief Whip of Parliament of Ghana," she wrote, adding that her inability to verify the source of the payment was her primary reason for rejecting it.

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Beyond the question of origin, the Asokwa MP said she was not willing to receive any financial benefit tied to the vetting of political colleagues from the other side of the aisle.

She specifically named Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga and Environment Minister Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, both of whom appeared before the Appointments Committee.

"My first reason is the fact that I do not want to enjoy any financial benefit under any circumstances to vet our own colleagues in leadership from the other side, being either Hon. Mahama Ayariga or Hon. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings," she wrote.

Minority Walkout Central to Decision

Appiagyei also connected her refusal to the Minority's decision to walk out of the vetting of three Supreme Court nominees on August 27. The nominees in question were Justice Sophia Rosetta Oduokuwa Bernasko Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante and Justice Anthony Forson Jnr. Minority members of the committee withdrew from proceedings in protest over what they described as procedural irregularities adopted by the committee's leadership.

Having taken a collective stand against participating in that vetting, Appiagyei said it would be contradictory to subsequently pocket any money associated with the process. "Due to the Minority's protest and non-participation in the vetting of the three Judges… on a matter of principle, I consider it totally unthinkable that I should enjoy any gift presented by any of the above judges," she stated. She also made clear it was not her intention to "extort any money" from any of the nominees.

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The memorandum further noted that Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin had already resolved to return his own share of the funds, and that Appiagyei wished to express solidarity with that position. She requested that the GH¢70,000 be sent back to the Majority Chief Whip, with her stated reasons formally communicated to him.

Source: YEN.com.gh