A member of the Minority in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, \u00a0has accused Minister Nominee for Energy, Boakye Agyarko of attempting to bribe them, ostensibly to have his nomination approved.<\/p>\n
The allegation comes hours after the Minority had refused to support the approval of Boakye Agyarko and Osafo Maafo; Senior Minister nominee, after raising concerns over some statements the two made before the committee.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Accra based Radio Gold, a member of the Appointment\u2019s Committee, Mahama Ayariga, who made the allegation, said Mr. Agyarko attempted bribing them with 3,000 cedis .<\/p>\n
The Bawku Central Legislator believes the money was specifically intended to influence the minority to approve Agyarko\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis [Friday] morning, \u00a0we had a meeting and during the meeting, we raised the issue with our Chief Whip and asked him what was the source of the money and he said he was going to check from the Chairman because he had also assumed that it was the sitting allowance that he had given him to give to us. So he raised the issue this morning again and he said he had met with the Chairman, and the Chairman had said it was from Boakye Agyarko, who is a nominee. So we as Minority said we were not interested in the money. He should take the money and then return it to the Chairman to give it back to Agyarko. So we gave the money back to our Chief Whip and asked him to send it back to give it to Mr. Agyarko.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what for what purpose he believes the money was given, Mr. Ayariga said that, \u201cThe only logical conclusion one could arrive at is that, this is money intended to influence especially when we had withheld his approval based on certain grounds; so we took a decision that we are not taking anything from anybody. We will take our normal sitting allowances as a committee, and so our leader should be mindful anytime the Chairman brings any money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Citi News<\/strong>\u00a0has not independently confirmed the bribery claims, Parliamentary Correspondent, Duke Mensah Opoku, says the matter is making the rounds in Parliament, as the second report of the Appointments Committee of Parliament is being discussed.<\/p>\n According to him, the Chairman of the Committee, Joe Osei-Wusu, has denied playing any role in the alleged bribery, and has vowed to take up the matter at the appropriate quarters.<\/p>\n Although Mr. Agyarko is yet to comment on the matter, sources close to him say he has denied being involved in any such incident.<\/p>\n Why Minority turned down Agyarko, Osafo Maafo’s nomination<\/strong><\/p>\n Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu, had explained that, they needed some \u201cadditional information\u201d on statements they both made before the Committee during the vetting.<\/p>\n He said Mr. Agyarko provided some \u201cinaccurate\u201d information relating to the \u201cdebt associated with the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Volta River Authority (VRA).\u201d<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Marian Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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