The Assembly Member for Mampong-Nyinampong in the Mampong Municipality of the Ashanti Region, Mr. Assuming Atakora, has been accused of extorting money from residents of Mampong Nyinampong who benefitted from the COVID-19 Trust Fund.
Information available to this paper has established that 280 people in Mampong-Nyinampong were given various sums of money to cushion them against the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, after research proved that they had become vulnerable due to the disease.
The Chronicle gathered that each beneficiary was given GH¢500.
The Chronicle further gathered upon the receipt of the money by the beneficiaries, Mr. Assuming Atakora, the Assembly Member for the area, started harassing them to give him GH¢20 for the role he played in getting them the money.
A resident of Nyinampong, who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity, accused Mr. Atakora of coming to his house to demand GH¢20 from him, but he mustered courage and told him he had no money for him.
“I do not understand why he is behaving this way; he is bent on taking the money from us, but this is state money and you have no business about getting the money. He is demanding the money, as if we owe him,” the beneficiary told this reporter.
When contacted on phone, Mr. Assuming Atakora admitted to this reporter that he had been taking money from the beneficiaries of the Covid-19 package.
According to Atakora, he was not forcing the beneficiaries for the money and that it was a token they themselves decided to give him after working hard to secure the funds for them. “It is not compulsory. I do not necessarily demand GH¢20 since it is a voluntary gesture; when they give me GH¢5, I take it and express appreciation,” he said.
When asked whether it was right for him, as an Assembly Member to be begging the beneficiaries for the money, Mr. Atakora admitted that it was not right, but insisted that the people were giving him the money because of the good rapport he had with them.
He could, however, not tell the exact number of people who had benefitted from the facility, but said they could be more than 200.
Meanwhile, the Municipal Chief Executive for Mampong has told this paper that the Assembly had not sanctioned such a demand, where assembly members take money from beneficiaries of the Covid-19 Trust Fund.
The post Assembly Member demands GH¢20 from Covid-19 Trust Fund beneficiaries appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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