{"id":290061,"date":"2017-02-01T08:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T08:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=290061"},"modified":"2017-02-01T08:00:50","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T08:00:50","slug":"allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/","title":{"rendered":"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has charged the leadership in Parliament to redeem itself a by allowing independent investigations of the bribery allegations made by some members of the Minority Caucus on the Appointments Committee.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”5XJdR9Z6sGdXxyZWtEGXiI5koEsXEpOe”]Mr. Ayariga said Mr.\u00a0Agyarko tried bribing\u00a010 Minority members<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0on the Committee with GHc 3,000 each.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cGII 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this end, GII calls for an external, independent and transparent investigation into the allegations particularly in the light of Parliament\u2019s initial position of dismissing the allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GII feels these allegations would present Parliament with the opportunity to address similar corruption allegations; most recently<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Amidu.<\/p>\n

\u201cGII is also of the view that though unfortunate, this is an opportunity for Parliament if possible to holistically address the general public\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, has since approved<\/a><\/strong><\/span> the setting up of a five-member in-house committee, to investigate the corruption allegations<\/p>\n

Find below full statement<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Public Affairs Department of Parliament dismissing the allegation;<\/li>\n
  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;<\/li>\n
  3. Ayariga denial that he had retracted and apologised on radio<\/li>\n
  4. Muntaka, MP for Asawase denial of receipt of any money or giving any money to anybody as alleged by Hon. Ayariga.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    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.<\/p>\n

    To this end, GII calls for an EXTERNAL INDEPENDENT and TRANSPARENT investigations into the allegations particularly in the light of Parliament\u2019s initial position of dismissing the allegations.<\/p>\n

    GII is also of the view that though unfortunate, this is an opportunity for Parliament if possible to holistically address the general public\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

    SIGNED: Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director<\/p>\n

    –<\/p>\n

    By: Delali Adogla-Bessa\/citifmonline.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has charged the leadership in Parliament to redeem itself a by allowing independent investigations of the bribery allegations made by some members of the Minority Caucus on the Appointments Committee. A Minority member of the Committee, Mahama Ayariga alleged that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe the Minority […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,11],"tags":[3226,3554,3,3608],"yoast_head":"\nAllow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has charged the leadership in Parliament to redeem itself a by allowing independent investigations of the bribery allegations made by some members of the Minority Caucus on the Appointments Committee. A Minority member of the Committee, Mahama Ayariga alleged that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe the Minority […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@citi973\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/\",\"name\":\"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/\",\"name\":\"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always\",\"description\":\"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1\",\"name\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kojo Akoto Boateng\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","og_description":"The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has charged the leadership in Parliament to redeem itself a by allowing independent investigations of the bribery allegations made by some members of the Minority Caucus on the Appointments Committee. A Minority member of the Committee, Mahama Ayariga alleged that the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe the Minority […]","og_url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/","og_site_name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/citi97.3","article_published_time":"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00","author":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@citi973","twitter_site":"@citi973","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/","name":"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-01T08:00:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/allow-independent-probe-into-bribery-claims-gii-to-parliament\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Allow independent probe into bribery claims \u2013 GII to Parliament"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/","name":"Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always","description":"Ghana News | Ghana Politics | Ghana Soccer | Ghana Showbiz","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/1642ef473fe39bf0c4e2f2f252678eb1","name":"Kojo Akoto Boateng","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba51f5385119e83762c67ecd6aa410ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kojo Akoto Boateng"},"url":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/author\/kojo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}