{"id":306517,"date":"2017-03-30T19:20:15","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T19:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=306517"},"modified":"2017-03-30T19:20:15","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T19:20:15","slug":"joe-ghartey-committee-rubbishes-ayarigas-bribery-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/joe-ghartey-committee-rubbishes-ayarigas-bribery-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Ghartey committee rubbishes Ayariga\u2019s bribery claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has been found guilty of contempt of Parliament, following investigations into bribery allegations against the Appointments Committee.<\/p>\n
Considering its observations from the investigation, \u00a0the five member Joe Ghartey committee concluded that “Mr. Mahama Ayariga is in Contempt of Parliament on the strength of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Committee’s report, which was laid before Parliament yesterday [Wednesday] also recommended that Mr. Ayariga be reprimanded by the Speaker of the House.<\/p>\n
The report said, “the committee having established a case of contempt against Mr. Mahama Ayariga as well as having examined the sanctions regime available, recommends to the House\u2026 that the Hon Member for Bawku Central, Mr. Mahama Ayariga, be reprimanded by the Rt. Hon. Speaker in accordance with section 35 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300).”<\/p>\n
It further recommended that Mr. Ayariga “renders an unqualified apology to the House, purging himself of contempt.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Joe Ghartey committee arrived at its conclusion because “Mr. Mahama Ayariga failed to prove that indeed Hon. Boakye Agyarko gave money to Hon. Joseph Osei-Owusu to be distributed to Members of the Appointments Committee with a view to bribe them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanctions are adequate<\/strong><\/p>\n The Committee further held that its sanctions against\u00a0Mr. Ayariga were\u00a0fair.<\/p>\n According to the report, \u201cthe Committee took notice of the fact that the Hon. Mahama Ayariga is not known to have engaged in acts that tend to disrupt the smooth proceedings of Parliament. Neither does he have a penchant or reputation of engaging in activity which can bring the image and dignity of Parliament into disrepute. Accordingly, we view the recommendation relating to the sanctions adequate in the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Background to bribery allegations<\/strong><\/p>\n The Railways Development Minister, also former Attorney-General, Joe Ghartey, was tasked to lead\u00a0the five-member committee<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0approved by Parliament, to investigate the bribery scandal.<\/p>\n The genesis of the bribery scandal stemmed from a Minority member of the Committee, Mahama Ayariga, who\u00a0alleged that<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Mr. Agyarko, attempted to bribe the ten minority members on parliament’s\u00a0Appointments Committee with GHc3000 each to ensure the approval of his nomination as the Energy Minister.<\/p>\n