Professor Mike Oquaye on Friday, directed the leadership of the House, to within one week come up with approach towards dealing with alleged bribery claims against Parliament Committees’ sittings outside the capital.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QC41xZbO7i1wIf4K1NJVgAnq2ahlCJXw”]The directive follows recent claims that National Lottery Authority, paid over one hundred and fifty thousand Ghana  Cedis to facilitate a meeting over the Lotteries Bill that failed to pass last year.

This has called the integrity of Parliament into question once again.

Commenting on the latest development, Justice Emile Short said, the directive is not the panacea to the allegations of corruption that have rocked the house.

He therefore proposed the setting up of an independent investigative body to look in such alleged corrupt acts.

“I think an investigative body outside of Parliament should be set up to look into all the past allegations. For example in the past we had honourable Bagbin alleging that MPs take bribe. Then Martin Amidu made a long statement about bribery in Parliament. People are not happy with the way these allegations in the past have been dealt with..I don’t know whether they are going on a retreat but I do not see what purpose this will serve. I do not see how this will generate public confidence in the integrity of Parliament.”

CSOs call for independent probe into NLA bribery claim

Three anti-corruption civil groups; the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Centre for Democratic Development-Ghana and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition had called for an independent probe into the bribery allegations involving the NLA and members of Parliament’s Finance Committee when the scandal broke.

A joint statement by the three anti-graft bodies noted that Parliament’s integrity was gradually coming into question hence their call for a probe.

“This revelation, coming on the back of the unsatisfactory handling of Honourable Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central’s bribery allegation presents a further challenge to the already dented image of Parliament and growing eroding trust in politics and the political class in the Fourth Republic,” they noted in a statement.

‘MPs take bribes’

The MP for Nadowli/Kaleo, Alban S.K. Bagbin, in 2014 alleged that some MPs take bribe to articulate the views of some individuals and organisations on the floor of Parliament.

Although he came under a wave of attack from some MPs, Alban Bagbin insisted that evidence to that effect existed and added that the practice had persisted because of the lack of laid-down rules and ethics on lobbying in the country.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“If there is due evidence to link them with the offence, they can be re-arrested because they have only been discharged, they were not convicted…” Mr. Emile Short said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”xs8k7Kr7yteF2ATjE5YCoRiFC3QIlHS8″]The 8 were freed on grounds of lack of evidence after they raided a competent court of jurisdiction, leading to the escape of 12 of their suspects in court custody.

Many including the Minority have since criticized the move, demanding the rearrest of the eight.

But  Mr.  Short, on Eyewitness News, explained that the eight can only be re-arrested if there is “enough evidence” linking them to the case.

“If the eight Delta Force members were discharged for a lack of evidence, there’s no point re-arresting them,” Mr. Emile Short insisted.

He was also dismayed at the manner in which the case had been turned into a political one, saying “some people want to make this a political issue but it’s a legal issue.”

He further watered down suggestions that the Principal Attorney did not have the powers to deliver judgement on this case, clarifying that the latter could also instruct the Police to discontinue proceedings on a case, depending on the circumstances.

“Due process of law requires that if a docket is referred to the State Attorney and the State Attorneys look at the document and the evidence and find out that there is no evidence or whatsoever to support the charges brought against them, then the principal state attorney is entitled to instruct the Police to discontinue the proceedings and in a case like this we have had reference even to the Attorney General because the Attorney General had signed a Memorandum of Understanding. It is not all cases that the principal state attorney has to refer matters to the Attorney General because the Attorney General cannot supervise all cases in the region. “

The eight were standing trial for allegedly storming the court premises earlier this year to free 13 of their members who were charged with conspiracy to assault for vandalizing property at the Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council and assaulting the Regional Security Coordinator.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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According to him, although the incident appears to be a clear case of conflict of interest, the context in which it occurred makes it quite peculiar and complicated.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FLJpfzPIhDVJOksT4pFiJXMqMcBS4nol”]A 17-member committee chaired by Philip Addison, was constituted by the government to investigate a power deal signed by the erstwhile government with AMERI.

The committee said it discovered the former government paid $150 million more than they were expected to pay.

The Minority in Parliament has claimed that, the committee’s report was biased, and was compromised by AMERI’s sponsorship of the team’s trip to Dubai to meet AMERI’s executives.

The Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, in an interview with Citi News, said the Philip Addison-led committee did not compromise itself by allowing AMERI to fund its trip to Dubai, but according to Justice Emile Short, the situation is quite complex, and requires some tact before conclusions can be made.

“We have to look at the special circumstances of this case. The provision of government especially with regards to this AMERI deal and the fact that the company was the one that insisted that the committee should travel abroad…So these are the parameters which any institution investigating the matter would have to take into consideration. It is not your normal situation,” he said.

“Ordinarily speaking, when a committee is going to investigate a matter, it is true that the person or institution that is going to be investigated should not be seen to be giving benefits  or providing facilities for the committee investigating the matter, but in the peculiar situation of this case, there is a twist,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minority has given indications that it will petition the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice to investigate the matter, which it has described as “embarrassing, unethical and shameful.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post AMERI shouldn’t have sponsored Addison C’ttee but … – Emile Short appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The event will be held at 4:30pm at the Christ the King Hall in Accra.

Some speakers who would speak at the symposium includes Albert Kan Dapaah, Former Minister of Interior, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhence of Essikado Traditional area and Justice Emile Short, Former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

The forum held a similar event in August this year touching on the issue of press freedom and responsible journalism in Ghana.

Some of the speakers who spoke at that event were renowned lawyer, Ace Ankomah, veteran journalist and Editor of the Chronicle newspaper, Ebo Quansah, and former Cabinet Minister and respected veteran international journalist and writer, Elizabeth Ohene.

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By: Sammi Wiafe/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Media Accountability forum to hold symposium today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the EC must expedite action on the processes of reviewing all submitted forms, to ensure that the country holds the general elections on December 7th, as mandated by the constitution.

Speaking in an interview with Citi News on Tuesday [November 8], on the sidelines of the launch of an interactive voter education platform, ‘Voter Match’ in Accra, Justice Short said, “the EC should ensure that this whole process of scrutiny of the nomination forms and taking a decision as to who qualifies and who does not qualify, should be brought back so that candidates will know at an early stage whether they are qualified to stand in the elections or not,” he said.

He added that, doing so will help ensure that “they [nominees] don’t spend time and resources doing campaign only to be told later that they don’ qualify; so I think it will be prudent to look at the calendar and to make sure that this whole process is done at a reasonable time before the election date itself,” he said.

He further called on the Commission to adopt a participatory approach in dealing with political parties to ensure fairness in the process.

‘EC urged to stop the delay tactics’

Meanwhile, a senior Research fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante has told Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) to cease employing measures that will unduly delay the electoral process.

He said the Electoral Commission’s (EC) reaction to court challenges of its decision to disqualify some presidential aspirants has been ‘unprecedented’.

He said the EC could have avoided dragging the election issues further following a Supreme Court order on Monday [November 7] which was supposed to bring finality to the entire challenges rather than announcing the discoveries of new errors on the nomination forms of some presidential nominees.

The Supreme Court ordered the EC to allow the disqualified aspirants up to the close of day Tuesday, November 8 to correct the errors on their nomination forms and resubmit them.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Don’t let lawsuits disrupt election calendar – Emile Short to EC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.