challenged by an hon. Member, leading to a referral of the Committee's recommendation to allow for further checks over the issue.
The Sub-Committee which was subsequently tasked to look into the matter made contacts with Miss O'Brien in the US. She informed the sub-committee that even though she had received over US $90,000 between 2002 and 2003 through various means for her upkeep, she never received an amount of US$45,000 in a single remittance from hon. Dr. Richard Anane or any source close to him.
Witness stated that apart from three occasions when the nominee personally handed specific cash amounts to her, the bulk of the remittances were received from persons related to or associated with Dr. Anane.”
She mentioned the occasions and the amounts as stated there: Accra -- $10,000 plus $3,000; Germany 5,000 Euros; and in London 1,000 pounds. So Mr. Speaker, I insist that the investigations were incomplete and that there is the need for them to go back and then allow further evidence to be taken on this matter.
Mr. Speaker, may I move to the other nominees. In the case of hon. Sheikh I. C. Quaye, Mr. Speaker, hon. Sheikh I. C. Quaye appeared before a similar Appointments Committee in 2001. He submitted a C.V. which is in the possession of this House and stated the schools and institutions he attended and the qualifications obtained. Now the schools attended, apart from Police Training Depot Primary School, Achimota Training College, Odorgonno Secondary School, he also stated that he attended Institute of Bankers, London and Institute
of Management Studies, London.
As a result of that when he stated the qualifications to include Cambridge School Certificate, Diploma in Management and Diploma in Journalism, there was no need for any person to raise the issue because he had stated that he attended Institute of Bankers and Institute of Management Studies.
Mr. Speaker, he then came before the Committee this year with another C.V. In that C.V. the Institutes that he attended and mentioned in the other C.V., they disappeared. They now do not reflect on the C.V. and now we have only the qualifications of Cambridge School Certificate, Diploma in Management Studies and Diploma in Journalism. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Appointments Committee and as a former vice chairman of the Appointments Committee, I had possession of these documents. So it raised eyebrows, and I raised the question during the vetting of hon. Sheikh I. C. Quaye. And Mr. Speaker, I accepted to delete “Banker” from it because he said he worked in the bank for some time so he thought by virtue of working in the bank he was a banker -- [Uproar.] I said, “Well, that is not a profession.” It was put under profession and occupation so I agreed that that be deleted.
Now we went to the other certificates and truly, Mr. Speaker, we all heard what happened there. He said that his house was destroyed and therefore he could not get possession of these certificates. Now this is not the first time that certificates disappear before Appointments Committees; it happened before in the case of hon. Bamba and we went through it and we advised on this floor that we were very convinced -- I was one of those who urged His Excellency the President not to appoint him because I thought that he was not fit and suitable to hold the high
office of a Deputy Minister of State. The Majority had the day; we went ahead and we experienced it as a country.
Mr. Speaker, we are here today -- there is disappearance of certificates as a result of the destruction of a house. So it raised doubts and that is why we asked the Sub-Committee to go further into this issue. When the Sub-Committee was going into this issue, there was no mention of ‘attending' institutes; it was a correspondence course through Rapid Results College. Now Mr. Speaker, nowhere did he mention attending Institute of Management Studies where one could say that as a result of those attendances he did the courses and got a Diploma in Management Studies.
Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, even the Institute or Board awarding the certificates could not be recollected -- not the certificates, the institutes that awarded the certificates could not be recollected -- amnesia it could be; let us accept it. But Mr. Speaker, it is important for us as a House to always get ourselves convinced in our recommendations to His Excellency the President for appointments. If we have any doubts whatsoever that our power, authority and resources will not be in safe hands, it is advisable to err on the side of caution; and I think we should err on the side of caution.
Mr. Speaker, I insist that in spite of the beautifully crafted testimony from the Headmistress of Odorgonno Secondary School who initially gave evidence that all documents of the school connected with that period could not be traced because according to the information, they had moved premises now to Awoshie and maybe they misplaced them -- crafted a testimonial about how dutiful and respectful that he was and that he was even a school prefect and all those things -- I was told that his mates testified to that
effect and therefore they wrote it.
That is dangerous -- no records -- Current young lady headmistress testifying falsely, 51-58 -- [Laughter.] Mr. Speaker, there we go! At the end of the day the paragraph recommending that we should approve him says, and Mr. Speaker, I quote:
“In the circumstances the Committee was obliged by concensus of all 18 members present and voting to recommend his nomination for approval by the House in spite of doubts raised by a couple of members.”
Mr. Speaker, I think that if there are doubts, this House should not recommend that he should be appointed as a Minister of State.
May I, Mr. Speaker, now move on to hon. Isaac E. Edumadze. Hon. Isaac Edumadze who appeared before the Committee had so many petitions against him. We took him through the petitions; a few areas were not clear, we had doubts and said that the Committee should investigate further.
Mr. Speaker, again, I had a problem with the mandate of the Committee but the Committee insisted that the mandate given the Sub-Committee was on the allegation that he demanded an amount of ¢250 million from K. E. & Sons contractors before he could sign a certificate for the payment of bills owed them.
Mr. Speaker, I recollected and stated that when we talk about a contractor the reference was to Saraswati where it was alleged that on the basis of the Managing Director's refusal to construct a 4-bedroomed house for the nominee, the nominee terminated his contract.
Now I was told at the committee