The Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Asokwa, Patricia Appiagyei, has returned an amount of GH¢70,000.00 given to her as an advance by the Majority Chief Whip of Parliament, citing concerns over the source of the funds.
In a memorandum dated September 2, 2026 and sighted by NewsfileGH, Madam Appiagyei explained that she was returning the money “on the basis of the fact that, primarily, I do not know the source of the money being given to me”.
She outlined two reasons for the decision.
First, she said she did not wish to benefit financially in any way tied to vetting colleagues in leadership from the other side of the House, naming now Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Mahama Ayariga and Minister of Environment,Science and Technology Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings.
Second, she pointed to the Minority’s protest and non-participation in the vetting of three Supreme Court justices — Justice Sophia Rosetta Odoakuwa Bernasko Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante and Justice Anthony Forson Jnr — stating that, on a matter of principle, she considered it “totally unthinkable” to accept any gift from the judges or to extort money from them.
“In lieu of the above, and also in support of the Minority Leader’s decision to return his share of the amount sent to him in that respect, I humbly return the amount of seventy thousand cedis (GH¢70,000.00) to be sent back to the Chief Whip of the Majority Caucus in Parliament, bringing to his attention my reasons for doing so,” she wrote in the memo addressed to the Minority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, and copied to the Minority Leader and MP for Effutu, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin.
The former Kumasi Mayor affirmed her continued commitment to the position of the Minority Caucus.
The move follows a similar decision by the Minority Leader, Afenyo-Markin, to return his own share of the funds.