A member of pressure group, OccupyGhana, Sydney Casely-Hayford, has described as intellectual dishonesty an apology rendered by the Member of Parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency, Mahama Ayariga, the man at the centre of the bribery allegations in Parliament.<\/p>\n
According to Casely-Hayford, Mr. Ayariga\u2019s apology should not be accepted because his comments are deemed rude to the Speaker of Parliament and the entire membership of the House.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Ayariga did in Parliament despite the pre-qualification of what he said in terms of the terms of reference is actually a rude comment back to the Speaker and to the House and it should not be accepted,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”5Kzqd2DcZTCZZF1poSbzdAS3pGIQl8lK”]The Bawku Central MP has been charged with contempt of Parliament for making unsubstantiated bribery allegations against Members of the Appointments Committee and the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko.<\/p>\n
The Joe Ghartey committee, which investigated the matter, recommended that Mr. Ayariga be allowed to apologize for his allegations which were deemed derogatory to the image of Parliament.<\/p>\n
Although he disagreed with the recommendations, Mr. Ayariga while speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Thursday said: \u201cMr. Speaker, if you say I should apologize, I have apologized<\/strong><\/a><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n He has subsequently been rebuked for the apology which some believe was not genuine.<\/p>\n Speaking on Citi FM<\/strong>\u2019s news analysis programme, The Big Issue<\/strong> on Saturday, Casely-Hayford, who is also a financial analyst and a social commentator, further argued that Mr. Ayariga was not remorseful hence his apology should be rejected.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Ayariga is asked to apologize to Bawku Naba, he will not stand there and say if you say I must apologize then I apologize. Under no circumstance would he say that, never.”<\/p>\n He explained that if Mr. Ayariga thought the committee had exceeded its mandate during its investigation, he should have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament.<\/p>\n “If the committee has been set up and you think it has exceeded its mandate, on the floor of parliament, you had the opportunity to make that statement. You can even write to the Speaker and say you disagree with the findings. But prior to that you can purge yourself of contempt by rendering the apology and you must render a true and proper apology. What he did was not true and proper. What he did was at best intellectual dishonesty,\u201d Casely-Hayford argued.<\/p>\n Ayariga to apologize again to Parliament<\/strong><\/p>\n In a related development, Citi News<\/strong> understands that Mahama Ayariga has written an apology letter<\/strong><\/a><\/span> to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Michael Oquaye, apologizing for his conduct.<\/p>\n In the supposed apology statement, Mr. Ayariga apologized to Energy Minister, Boakye, Agyarko, for his comments which sought to link him to his allegation of bribery in Parliament.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also apologized to the Speaker, and the entire leadership of Parliament.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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