According to him, the Majority side deliberately acted in a way to prevent the minority from capturing their views in the official report.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Muntaka accused the majority of being “emotional” and trying to cover-up wrongdoing although there is evidence that point to wrongdoing.

Reacting to fallouts from the consideration of the ad-hoc committee’s report on the matter on the floor of parliament on Tuesday, he said, “they [majority] are always acting with emotions… Even if you want to cover up, cover up neatly. On what basis will you refer a committee’s report to the privileges committee?”

“They have started from day 1 with the mindset that they were not interested in what was going to happen. You can see clearly in the way they were asking the question when we appeared before them… When they did all these, you just have these tons of pages of witnesses’ verbatim extracts, you go into a committee and you don’t allow the clerk of the committee who has brought you summaries of the hearing through which you are supposed to do the draft report.. the chairman of the committee vanishes and appears with a draft report to present…. That is why I think the majority was very dishonest in their dealings,” he added.

Despite a walk-out by the minority over the debate of the report on Tuesday, the House considered the report and cleared the Ministry of Trade and the event organizers of wrongdoing.

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye, however referred the report to the privileges committee.

It is unclear the reason for the referral, but some believe it is due to other developments such as alleged peddling of falsehood under oath by Muntaka during his testimony before the committee.

Meanwhile, Yaw Boabeng Asamoah, the spokesperson for the committee and Member of Parliament for Adenta, has said that the majority members on the ad-hoc committee is unfazed by the minority’s claims that its views were deliberately taken out of the report.

“He [Muntaka] has all the public space to continue spewing all the things they said before which they never substantiated.”

He added that his side is confident in the report it produced following the sitting.

“I am totally committed to that report and I believe Parliament must stand for something. And parliament should not shoot itself in the foot. I believe that a serious member of parliament should act responsibly when acting in the public space; making allegations of extortions and bribery. I am very proud of what we delivered and I believe the house is satisfied.”

Minority caused financial loss – Alan

The Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen, has suggested that members of the Minority who championed the recall of Parliament culminating in the setting up of a bi-partisan Committee to probe the cash-for-seat allegations have caused financial loss to the state.

He said the emergency recall of the house to discuss the matter was unnecessary as their claims were determined to be unsubstantiated following the ad-hoc committee’s work.

“It may be possible that the associated cost for recalling this may be a case of causing financial loss,” Kyerematen said on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Cash-for-seat: Majority being ‘very dishonest’ – Muntaka appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the legislation, which has been in Parliament for over a month now, has not even been seen by some of the Members of Parliament because they do not have copies.

Muntaka also alleged that, information available to him suggests the regulation has not been gazetted.

[contextly_sidebar id=”N99fAOgCB6KJFf3DwUXCZadYqXAv4ydQ”]The same Legislative Instrument is the subject of a petition from the Association of Law students who want it annulled.

Speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Thursday, Muntaka Mubarak argued that, the withdrawal will help ensure that persons responsible for laying such legislation before Parliament do the right thing.

“Mr. Speaker, on 22^nd December 2017, we laid the Legal Profession Regulation 2017. Mr. Speaker, as we speak, we don’t have copies in the House, more than one month after its been laid. Information reaching me is that, even that regulation has not been gazetted.”

“Nobody in this house apart of from some few members of the committee have this document; meanwhile the days are running. When you look at the constitution…it talks about it coming into force at the expiration of 21 working days. And now if you count the days…we exhausted about 11 days already, leaving us with only ten days. Yet this has not been gazetted, nobody has a copy and yet the days are counting,” he said.

Muntaka, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Asawase constituency, pleaded with the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu to ensure the withdrawal of the regulation “so that they will know that we are tired.”

Nana Addo petitioned over LI for law school admissions

The Association of Law Students on January 29, 2018 petitioned President Nana Akufo-Addo to cause the withdrawal of the controversial Legal Profession Regulations 2017 from Parliament.

The Association wants the President to impress on Members of Parliament to vote against the regulation.

The General Legal Council laid the Regulations in Parliament in mid-December 2017, in response to a Supreme Court order for a clear admission procedure into the Ghana School of Law, and call to the Ghana Bar.

The proposed LI in question, among other things, states that the General Legal Council will conduct an entrance exam for the admission of students to the school, and conduct interviews for all applicants who pass the Ghana School of Law Entrance Examination.

The LI is expected to become Law this month, February, 2018.

But the law students maintain that if the document is passed in its current form, it will restrict access to legal education.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Withdraw L.I. for law school admissions – Muntaka appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 5-Member Committee chaired by Majority Chief Whip, Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh, commenced ts public hearings on Thursday receiving submissions of the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who first made the allegation, and North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Muntaka defended his allegation before the Committee, but told Citi News that he felt some of the Committee members sought to discredit him by their style of questioning.

Okudzeto Ablakwa also firmly justified his claims that indeed the Ministry extorted monies from the expatriates. He called for an independent audit of the accounts used by the organizers of the Ghana Expatriates Business Awards (GEBA) ceremony, which was held in December 2017.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Vqr4ajo6tgvoRAo7jvFZa5KYNj1HO5yq”]The Committee has up to the 24^th of January to submit its report.

The Trade Ministry, which is at the Center of the allegations has on previous occasions denied any wrongdoing in the matter. However, they are expected to make their case formally known before the 5-member committee

A Member of the Committee and MP for Adenta, Yaw Buaben Asamoa, who speaks for the committee said it is unclear how many witnesses the Ministry will present to make their case.

Background

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, first made the extortion allegation in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr. Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr. Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event, and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter, clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President, and that the amount raised was gotten from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Expatriates saga: Trade Ministry to face parliament c’ttee today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, who made this allegation, had indicated that the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

[contextly_sidebar id=”853mgTXh8exxX2c1UE3nsVpil55JfhwV”]“Mr. Speaker, I have worries about the IGF of the Ministry and how they go around, mobilizing resources on the IGF, and secondly Mr. Speaker, this item that I am going to mention in the breakdown of the Ministry’s IGF, was not included, yet they are bringing the budget excluding that collection. On 23rd September, 2017, the Ministry wrote to Ghana Expatriate Business Community for them to be informed that they are planning to organize an award ceremony for expatriate businesses that are in Ghana, and Mr. Speaker, shockingly enough, part of what was said was that, if you want to sit with the President, you have to pay 100,000 dollars. If you want to sit behind the President you have to 75,000 dollars. If you want to sit on another table called red circle, you have to pay 50,000 dollars. If you wanted to sit on the yellow circle, you have to pay 40,000 dollars, and if you wanted to sit on the green circle, you have to the 25,000 dollars.

“Mr. Speaker, this is very worrying because so far as I am concerned, the fees and charges that we approve in this house did not say that if we wanted to interact with the President you have to pay 100,000. Mr. Speaker, this gives credence to all that we have been hearing in the media that access to the President is very difficult,” Mr. Muntaka said on the floor of Parliament.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, however rejected these claims, saying it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event.

The Ministry clarified that, it only facilitated the implementation of the new initiative [GEBA] by the Millennium Excellence Foundation, an entity noted for organizing world class events.

According to the Ministry, it had no hand in resource mobilization for the event, as it had been decided that the Foundation would take that responsibility.

“As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative.The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilization to ensure that the event was organised at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation”

“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. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) 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,” excerpts of the statement said.

The full text of the statement is below 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO THE BASELESS ACCUSATIONS RELATING TO THE GHANA EXPATRIATE BUSINESS AWARDS (GEBA) 2017

1. The Ministry of Trade and Industry has learnt with disdain the baseless allegations flying in the media (including social media platforms) that the Ministry charged expatriates between 25,000 and 100,000 dollars to offer them seats close to the President at the recently held Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA).
2. The 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.
3. 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 award event targeted at recognizing and rewarding the contributions of the expatriate 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.
4. As a Government that believes in the private sector as the engine of growth, the Government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry welcomed the initiative to collaborate with the Foundation to see to the birthing of the initiative.
5. The Ministry consequently signed an MoU with the Foundation that spelt out the roles of both parties. Resource mobilisation to ensure that the event was organised at no cost to the taxpayer was the sole responsibility of the Foundation
6. As a serious and experienced event organiser, the Foundation came up with a sponsorship programme as would be done by any serious-minded event organiser which included series of fundraising dinners and sponsorship packages.
7. 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.
8. It is very worrying for people who are expected to know better (especially if some happen to be leading members of the august House of Parliament) 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
9. The two documents being paraded in the social media and some other platforms, that is the Ministry of Trade letter and the Millennium Excellence Foundation Package have nothing in common as they were not presented to sponsors at the same time. 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.
10. Without any show of disrespect or attempt to tag individuals and organisations as not being corporate responsible, on the so-called “for sale Presidential Table “ were the Award winning MD of Tigo/Airtel (Roshi Motman), Amar Hari (IPMC), Salem Kalmoni (Japan Motors), Ashok Mohinani (Polygroup), H.E. Jerry John Rawlings, Hon Alan Kyerematen, Amb. James Victor Gbeho, Hon Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah, Mr. Yofi Grant of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and Amb. Ashim Morton who did not pay a pesewa to be seated on the “for the highest bidder Presidential Table”.
11. People who know or ought to know better should desist from mischief and propaganda and rather learn to commend individuals and institutions that come up with initiatives such as the GEBA that has the capacity to boost the country’s FDIs.
12. It is gratifying to us as partners that all the wild and unsubstantiated falsehoods has not included anything to the effect that any company that won an award did so by virtue of its ability to pay – a testament to the commendable work of the event validators, the reputable KPMG.
13. A technical team defined the criteria for evaluating the award categories. This technical team consisted of personnel from the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the Registrar General’s Department, the Ghana Revenue Authority, the Private Enterprises Federation, the Ghana Free Zones Board and the Millennium Excellence Foundation.
14. KPMG acted as an independent party to evaluate, analyse and validate the data to determine the winners. Their role as Event Statisticians required them to ensure that the defined criteria and process for determining the winners were strictly adhered to. KPMG concluded that the award winners won on the basis of the criteria and process defined by the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards Technical Team.
15. The GEBA has come to stay as an event to be held every other year to appreciate the contributions of the expatriate and naturalised expatriate community to the growth of the country. An investigative report by a competent security agency of the country has put to rest the spurious allegations that one has to pay his or her way to have access to the Presidency. Let no one attempt to resurrect a dead issue through GEBA.
16. The Ministry of Trade and Industry as one of the major drivers of the industrial transformation agenda of government will continue to endorse and support worthy initiatives as GEBA that is championed by proven credible individuals or organisations to help accelerate socio-economic advancement of Ghana.

–

By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Muntaka ‘lied’, no one bought seats beside Nana Addo – Trade Ministry  appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Asawase MP, the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards were not the kind of fees approved by Parliament, and that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

Muntaka made the revelation during the debate of the 2018 budget estimates for the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

“Mr. Speaker, I have worries about the IGF of the Ministry and how they go around, mobilizing resources on the IGF, and secondly Mr. Speaker, this item that I am going to mention in the breakdown of the Ministry’s IGF, was not included, yet they are bringing the budget excluding that collection. On 23rd September, 2017, the Ministry wrote to Ghana Expatriate Business Community for them to be informed that they are planning to organize an award ceremony for expatriate businesses that are in Ghana, and Mr. Speaker, shockingly enough, part of what was said was that, if you want to sit with the President, you have to pay 100,000 dollars. If you want to sit behind the President you have to 75,000 dollars. If you want to sit on another table called red circle, you have to pay 50,000 dollars. If you wanted to sit on the yellow circle, you have to pay 40,000 dollars, and if you wanted to sit on the green circle, you have to the 25,000 dollars.

“Mr. Speaker, this is very worrying because so far as I am concerned, the fees and charges that we approve in this house did not say that if we wanted to interact with the President you have to pay 100,000. Mr. Speaker, this gives credence to all that we have been hearing in the media that access to the President is very difficult,” Mr. Muntaka said on the floor of Parliament.

A communique to the expatriates, and sighted by citifmonline.com, detailed the specific amounts that was to be charged as stated by Mr. Muntaka, but Citi News cannot confirm if the amounts quoted were indeed paid.

It also requested that applicants “submit their details by 10th of November, 2017 to one Mr. Kwadwo Boateng at the KPMG’s office, Abelemkpe, in a sealed envelope” adding that information presented by applicants will be “kept strictly confidential.”

Suggestions are that, the practice of reserving specific tables at special events at a fee for those who wish to sit closer to high profile personalities or celebrities is abnormal or odd.

Click on the link below to read communique sighted by citifmonline.com.

Communique

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By: Marian Ansah & Duke Mensah Opoku/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Speaking on Eyewitness News, the MP said the health officials needed to do all the could, “even if it means flying samples” outside the country for testing.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ieyGnyfsTa9p30V97FDAvcev8EbAUtPa”]”Let’s get to know what is the cause immediately because it creating trouble for us. If this thing spread into the general population, whether in the constituency or in the Kumasi metropolis, we are going to run into much bigger trouble.”

The recent deaths, four in the past week, have renewed concerns about the health conditions in the school which so far killed eight students in 2017.

The earlier deaths were suspected to be meningitis-related, though official clarification has been made by health officials.

Before the 2017/2018 academic year, the school’s authorities had said it had adopted measures to prevent any meningitis-related deaths.

But officials from the Ghana Health Service have since ruled meningitis out in the recent deaths, and are instead suspecting a bacterial infection.

Health officials in the Ashanti Region begun administering antibiotics to students on Wednesday as a preventive measure, which Muntaka said would buy the officials time to find the cause of the deaths without any more deaths occurring.

Though these developments raise questions about the school’s handling of healthcare in the past year, Mr. Muntaka said “the effort all of us should be putting in is; with the help of WHO, let’s get pray and help them get the cause of the disease.”

“When we are able to get the cause of the disease and we are able to deal with its root cause, we can come back to asking what happened between March and June. What did they do with all the blood samples and all that? We cannot be in the midst of the problem trying to solve something that has passed.”

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

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Awudu Osman, also known as Awudu Ninja, was shot and killed by police with his alleged accomplice Lukeman Mohammed, also known as Alfa.

A final funeral rites had been held for both suspects according to Islamic tradition.

Relatives of Osman have intensified their call for justice for the deceased, after they had given Government and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) a three-day ultimatum to investigate the death.

The situation prompted the Asawase Member of Parliament, Muntaka Mubarak, to raise the matter on the floor of Parliament, where he requested that the Interior Minister be made to appear before MPs to speak to the matter.

Mr. Muntaka, who was at the funeral on Sunday, reiterated his  resolve to get to the bottom of the matter.

“For us, we will continue to pursue till we get justice for him. I mean, the Minister for Interior has Tuesday or Wednesday to come and brief the house, and obviously I think we will push for an independent investigation so that we don’t leave it to the police, but we will get an independent body to investigate this so we can ascertain the truth.”

The Asawase MP, who later visited the pregnant widow of one of the deceased persons, said she was still traumatized over the incident, and feared her children and other relatives could be stigmatized in the future.

He cautioned the youth to be patience and not to take the laws into their hands. He also urged relatives of the deceased to cooperate with the process in their quest to seek justice for the deceased persons.

The family is yet to get a copy of an autopsy report which was handed to police by doctors on Thursday.

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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Muntaka demands independent probe into ‘killing’ of suspected robbers appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking to Citi Business News Editor, Vivian Kai Lokko after the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta had presented the budget in the lawmaking house, Muntaka Mubarak, who is also the MP for Asawase, said government failed to provide actual figures to back its claims that it had improved the economy.

[contextly_sidebar id=”4K5kTyrJwDVRiL4otppj1iKMz1Gu6x8t”]He believes the Finance Minister only presented “abstracts and slogans” in the name of turning the economy around.

“All they are talking about is slogans. It is all about slogans and they have couched a very nice slogan; putting government to work again as if we have been sleeping in Ghana. They should pinpoint in real numbers what they have done. They are speaking abstracts and they keep saying it is ongoing.”

1 million dollars for each constituency not realized

Listing some projects introduced by the governing NPP that in his view had not yet seen the light of day, Mr. Muntaka said though government promised 1 million dollars for each constituency, “not even one dollar had been disbursed yet.”

1 District, 1 Factory

He also wondered whether the government had earmarked some lands for the 1 District, 1 Factory policy, saying the “one district, one factory that they said was on course, they should tell you and I which chief has earmarked one acre of land that they have started even negotiating.”

“Last year [2016], when this budget was heard, you saw the spontaneous jubilation at Kumasi Magazine about spare parts, and a year down the line when the implementation started what is happening now? You heard them complain about how all they were told ended up being escalations,” Mr Muntaka added.

NPP gov’t didn’t end dumsor

The Finance Minister had also stated in his presentation that NPP government brought the incessant power cuts to an end when it came to power.

Mr. Muntaka, however, dismissed these claims, saying “the most shocking and the most insincere comment of the Finance Minister was when he said they had ended dumsor.”

The Asawase legislator believes that contrary to Mr. Ofori Atta’s claims, the frequent power outages came to an end under the NDC’s tenure.

“You and I were in this country. Long before they came, Dumsor had ended. If you remember by January, February of 2016, there was no dumsor. All the things that he said they had added, just check. All the 445 megawatts that he is talking about adding, just check, when it was done.”

We’ve delivered on our promises – NPP MP

In reaction to Muntaka’s claims, Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Kwabena Otchere Darko however insisted  government had delivered on its promises.

“We have promises that we made in our manifesto and we delivered on them. Therefore I find it extremely difficult for the NDC to be complaining that we have not delivered on our promises. Why is the economy growing? The economy is growing at 3.7% and we are doing 7.4%”

Mr. Darko also explained that government had not yet implemented a number of programmes including the 1 District 1 Factory policy, because it is undertaking some preparatory works with the private sector before launching these programmes to prevent the companies earmarked for the project from collapsing.

“This is a government .. and they are doing these projects with the private sector participation and so far we have been able to identify a number of them who have started preparatory works before we set up the business because we do not want to set up anything that will collapse… We have seen the stories with GNTC, the Ambassador hotels and all that so we are very prudent and we want to make sure that prudence inures to the benefit of Ghanaians.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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His comments follow the announcement by Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Minister, Kofi Dzamesi, that two committees had been set up namely, Planning and Screening Committees, to oversee the operations of Christian pilgrimage in the country, beginning with a hundred pilgrims this year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RL8if1HfYBZYyzpxNgJKnaDIaZE3bEsh”]“Let me assure you that we intend to have an eventful pilgrimage. In view of this, the Ministry has set up two sub-committees which are the Planning and Screening Committees which are composed of members of recognized Christian bodies,” Mr. Dzamesi said on Friday.

The decision has re-opened public discussion on the importance of the state funding faith-based activities. But speaking to Citi News’ Duke Mensah Opoku, the Asawase MP pointed out that, it is not out of place for government to facilitate the pilgrimage of Christians.

“I think that it is a very welcoming thing. While they are going to worship, they will take time to also pray for the country. In the case of Muslims, it is the Saudi government that will not allow individuals to do that. I don’t know about Israel but if it is so, and government is also going to coordinate it, I think it is a very good thing. ..Christians should be given space to worship, and Muslims should also be given space to worship. I think it is a very laudable thing …,” Mr. Muntaka said.

While Hon. Muntaka has described the move as laudable, other stakeholders hold a different view on the decision.

Facilitation of Christian pilgrimages needless

The Executive Director of IMANI Ghana, has indicated that government’s decision to facilitate the pilgrimage is unnecessary since there are other entities already facilitating these trips.

“I think clearly that the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs has no work to do and I get worried… It appears to me they have no work to do that is why they will be thinking of organizing trips to Isreal and other parts of the world. It is needless because already, there are entities and private organisations that organise these trips. There are many travel  and tour agencies that organise these trips every year…,” he said.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Nothing wrong with gov’t funding Christian pilgrimage – Muntaka appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to a private legal practitioner, Nii Kpakpo Samoa Addo, the Majority Members in Parliament could have capitalized on it to call for his removal and for a by-election to be held in his constituency.

“It didn’t make political sense to push the issue because the consequences I understand could go as far as even calling for his removal from Parliament. Politically if you push, and your area is a flip flop constituency, the majority could take advantage and call for a by-election, they could actually expel you from Parliament,” he opined.

[contextly_sidebar id=”MXRJgsovQB4zPZ7Pskknx9S1NsQqAvgS”]The Bawku Central MP was charged with contempt for making unfounded bribery allegations against the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joe Osei Owusu, the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko and the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak.

A special committee, chaired by Joe Ghartey, the Essikado-Ketan MP was constituted by the Speaker of Parliament to investigate the matter.

The committee after its investigations concluded that Mr. Ayariga’s claim that Joe Osei Owusu was used as a conduit by the Minister for Energy to distribute a GH¢3,000 bribe to minority members on the Appointments Committee to facilitate Mr. Agyarko’s approval after his vetting was baseless and thus found him guilty of contempt of Parliament.

Although Ayariga openly disagreed with the report, he subsequently wrote a letter to the Speaker apologizing and he was pardoned.

Meanwhile, speaking on the Citi FM’s news analysis progamme, They Big Issue on Saturday, Nii Kpakpo who is also a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) explained that it was “politically risky” for Ayariga to have appealed the Joe Ghartey committee’s report.

This, the lawyer said was because there was no evidence backing his [Ayariga’s] claims.

“If you look at it from a political point of view…the committee was not only made up of NPP side but it was also made up of your own [NDC] members. Now members of the committee who were you own members came out to say that there was absolutely no evidence, and there was nothing on which they could evaluate and say the allegation was true. That means that you have no legs to stand on politically. If it was majority decision, then you could say that I my side support me but here is the case that your members were not on your side. It was virtually yourself and the whole Parliament. So I think, he took advice, weighed his options carefully and realized that this was not something that was worth pushing so let me take the honourable part by apologizing,” the lawyer added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post Ayariga could’ve been expelled from Parliament if… – Lawyer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.