A Minority member of the Committee, Mahama Ayariga alleged that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe the Minority members to secure approval of his nomination.

[contextly_sidebar id=”5XJdR9Z6sGdXxyZWtEGXiI5koEsXEpOe”]Mr. Ayariga said Mr. Agyarko tried bribing 10 Minority members on the Committee with GHc 3,000 each.

The GII in a statement described the corruption allegations as an embarrassment to Parliament hence the need for probe to restore confidence in the Legislature.

“GII considers the current matter as unfortunate, embarrassing and a major dent in the image of Parliament and hence the urgent need for swift action by the Leadership of the August House to redeem the sinking image of the Legislature learning from the example of the infamous judicial corruption scandal and how the Chief Justice acted swiftly to investigate and sanction.”

“To this end, GII calls for an external, independent and transparent investigation into the allegations particularly in the light of Parliament’s initial position of dismissing the allegations.”

The GII feels these allegations would present Parliament with the opportunity to address similar corruption allegations; most recently by anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu.

“GII is also of the view that though unfortunate, this is an opportunity for Parliament if possible to holistically address the general public’s perception of Parliamentary corruption and incessant allegations made by individuals including Hon. Martin Amidu, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Hon. Alban Bagbin, an MP, Hon. P.C Appiah Ofori, former MP and Professor Stephen Adei, Former rector of GIMPA.”

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, has since approved the setting up of a five-member in-house committee, to investigate the corruption allegations

Find below full statement

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has followed with grief concerns the unfolding controversies and confusion related to allegations of attempted bribery of the Minority Caucus of the Appointments Committee of Parliament.

The allegations as made by Hon. Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central to the effect that, the then Minister Nominee for Energy attempted to bribe the Minority Caucus on the Appointments Committee with the sum of three thousand Ghana cedis each in order to secure consensus amongst members of the Committee to approve his nomination has even been made murkier by statements made by:

1. The Public Affairs Department of Parliament dismissing the allegation;
2. The first Deputy Speaker and the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Appointment Committee, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu on the floor of Parliament that Hon. Mahama Ayariga has retracted and apologised;
3. Ayariga denial that he had retracted and apologised on radio
4. Muntaka, MP for Asawase denial of receipt of any money or giving any money to anybody as alleged by Hon. Ayariga.

GII is of the opinion that, it is incumbent on officials who hold public office and are paid with public funds to demonstrate the highest standards of integrity in the performance of their duties and therefore considers the developments in Parliament very worrying particularly also because similar allegations in the recent past were not thoroughly investigated, at least not that we know of.

It is however, refreshing to note that even though this is not the first time an MP is alleging attempted bribery of MPs, this is the first time MPs are publicly calling for investigations into the matter and committing to testifying during such investigations.

GII considers the current matter as unfortunate, embarrassing and a major dent in the image of Parliament and hence the urgent need for swift action by the Leadership of the August House to redeem the sinking image of the Legislature learning from the example of the infamous judicial corruption scandal and how the Chief Justice acted swiftly to investigate and sanction.

To this end, GII calls for an EXTERNAL INDEPENDENT and TRANSPARENT investigations into the allegations particularly in the light of Parliament’s initial position of dismissing the allegations.

GII is also of the view that though unfortunate, this is an opportunity for Parliament if possible to holistically address the general public’s perception of Parliamentary corruption and incessant allegations made by individuals including Hon. Martin Amidu, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Hon. Alban Bagbin, an MP, Hon. P.C Appiah Ofori, former MP and Professor Stephen Adei, Former rector of GIMPA.

SIGNED: Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com

The post Allow independent probe into bribery claims – GII to Parliament appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr. Ayariga had accused the Energy Minister of bribing the ten minority members on the Appointments Committee with GHc3, 000 each to lure them to approve him for the position.

According to him the money was handed to them by the minority chief whip, Muntaka Mubarak who received it from the chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu.

Meanwhile, Ayariga’s claim has been rubbished by all the factions involved.

Speaking on The Big Issue on Saturday, Rashid Pelpuo who is also the Member of Parliament for Wa Central said “if you have a member of the committee coming out with these tough allegations, it is important for us to look at it thoroughly.”

“There must be some information derived out of it and a position that would have emerged upon which you would have then made such a powerful statement. For me I cannot say much because I’m not a member of the committee, I can only rely on what the witness is talking about and what emphasis he is putting across,” he noted.

I didn’t give Ayariga bribe money – Muntaka swears

Minority chief whip, Mubarak Mohammed Muntaka says it is untrue he gave Mahama Ayariga money meant to bribe him [Ayariga] and other minority members of Parliament’s appointment committee to support the approval of Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko.

According to him, he does not recall ever giving Ayariga any gift purportedly from the Chairman of the Appointments Committee [Joseph Osei-Owusu].

“I’m a Muslim and Ayariga is a Muslim. I’m swearing by the Allah that created him that I never gave Ayariga anything and I said it was from Osei-Owusu. Osei Owusu has never discussed any money issue with me. He has never given me any money to be given to Ayariga and I’ve never given Ayariga or anybody any money saying that it was coming from the Chairman.”

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Investigate Ayariga’s bribery allegations – Rashid Pelpuo appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale North and a member of the Committee, Alhassan Suhuyini, said the Minority members were assured they would receive the CVs today [Thursday], but says they are yet to take delivery of the CVs less than 24 hours to the commencement of vetting on Friday, January 20, 2017.

The Minority MPs have been pushing to get the CVs since yesterday [Wednesday], according to Mr. Suhuyini, a situation he described as unacceptable as it could hinder the quality of their work during the vetting.

“Today, we were assured we would get them. We have been sitting in the Minority Whip’s office since 9:00am, and we don’t seem to know when the CVs are getting to us; and we think that it is not going to help the process because the people of Ghana want us to ask the relevant questions especially about the caliber of people that are going to be working for them,” the MP said in a Citi News interview.

“We think that it is unacceptable. We don’t want them to be giving us the CVs tomorrow [Friday] morning, when we are supposed to be vetting the nominees, and when we fail the people of Ghana there will be no excuse.”

Mr. Suhuyini indicated that, in past, the Committee sometimes got hold of the relevant CVs as early as a month to the vetting.

“But in this case, since the announcement of the names, the minority side has been seeking to get the CVs of the nominees so we can prepare ourselves adequately to do the job that the people of Ghana expect us to do,” he stated.

In this instance, there has been a seven-day window from the announcement of all the ministerial nominees and the commencement of vetting.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced his ministerial nominees in three batches with the first batch coming out on January 10, 2016.

The Appointments Committee has 26 members, and is chaired by First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu.

Out of the 36 nominees, the Committee will vet the Senior Minister-nominee, Yaw Osafo Maafo; National Security Minister-nominee, Albert Kan-Dapaah; Finance Minister-nominee, Ken Ofori-Atta and Defence Minister-nominee Dominic Nitiwul on the first day.

The first four will be followed by the Attorney-General and Justice Minister-nominee Gloria Akuffo and Interior Minister-nominee, Ambrose Dery on Saturday, January 21.

Minister-nominee of Local Government & Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama; Minister-nominee of Trade and Industry, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen; Minister-nominee for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto and Minister-nominee for Energy, Boakye Agyarko will take their turn on Monday, January 23.

On Tuesday, January 24, the Committee will vet the Minister-nominee for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; Minister-nominee for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh and Minister-nominee for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Give us nominees’ CVs now for proper vetting – Minority MPs appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.