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Victoria
Hammah has previously said she was under pressure to steal public money
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Ghana's Deputy Communications Minister
Victoria Hammah has been sacked after she was recorded allegedly saying she
would stay in politics until she has made $1m (£600,000).
"If you have money then you can
control people," she seems to say on the tape which has been widely
circulated. Ms Hammah has not yet commented on the tape or her sacking.
The BBC's Sammy Darko in Accra says she
played a key role in President John Mahama's election last year.
Some pundits will feel vindicated over
her sacking, as they warned that she was too young and inexperienced to serve
in government, our correspondent says.
In August, she said there was a lot of
pressure on her to steal public money because people thought that, as a
minister, she was rich.
She described such demands as
"obnoxious", reports the Ghanaweb news site.
"Corrupt politicians are the
reflection of [a] corrupt society!" it quotes her as saying.
Ms Hammah first came to the public
attention after stumbling several times while making a speech and then saying
she had been given the wrong text.
On the tape, which has not been
independently verified, she says: "I will not quit politics until I make
one million dollars."
She also criticised another deputy
minister, calling her "senseless, ugly, loud and egoistic".
Information Minister Mahama Ayariga did
not give any reason for Ms Hammah's dismissal in her one-sentence announcement.
But it comes 24 hours after the tape
went viral on social media and was played on a local radio station.
Her driver has been questioned by the
police, after she lodged a complaint, saying her right to privacy had been
infringed.
Police spokesman Freeman Tetttey told
the BBC they were investigating whether an offence had been committed.
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