The Ministry denied claims by Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, the Member of Parliament for Asawase, that expatriate business people paid between $25,000 and $100,000 to sit close to President Nana Akufo-Addo.

This was in a statement signed by Prince Boakye-Boateng, the Team Leader in charge of Communication and Advocacy at the Ministry, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra.

The statement said the two documents being paraded in the social media and some other platforms - the Ministry of Trade’s letter and the Millennium Excellence Foundation Package - had nothing in common as they were not presented to sponsors at the same time.

It said the Ministry only wrote letters to introduce the Millennium Excellence Foundation to sponsors and solicited support whilst the Foundation prepared the sponsorship package kits and presented it to potential sponsors at a later date.

The Ministry explained that GEBA was the brainchild of the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for its prowess and credibility in the organisation of world-class events such as the Millennium Excellence Awards and the Accra Marathon.

The statement said, “Upon the conception of the novel idea, the Foundation informed the Government, through the Presidency, and further sought partnership with the Ministry of Trade and Industry in the organisation of the first-ever awards event, targeted at recognising and rewarding the contributions of the expatriates and naturalised expatriate community to the socio-economic advancement of the country over the decades.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this is the first of its kind in Africa”.

According to the statement, “Non-mischievous minds with a basic knowledge of event organisation will know that as is the case with all fundraising activities, there are different sponsorship categories and packages with their attendant benefits.

“As to how one chooses to categorise them (whether presidential circle or platinum down to the least package) is only a matter of semantics, nomenclature and ingenuity,” it said.

“It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better to conveniently join the streets wagon in pursuit of petty partisan parochial interests to churn out deliberate falsehood to perpetuate the fallacy that access to the President has to be secured with financial inducements.”