Posted on:
www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw
Owusu & Thomas Fosu Jnr.
Monday, January
30, 2017
Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has
landed himself in hot waters following a claim he made that MPs were given
bribes to approve the nomination of then Minister-designate of Energy and
Petroleum Resources, Boakye Agyarko.
Ayariga, who is
the immediate-past Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, caused
public uproar last weekend when he claimed on pro-National Democratic Congress
(NDC) Radio Gold that his Minority
Chief Whip, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, gave them (MPs) GH¢3,000 each to approve
the nomination of Boakye Agyarko to become Minister of Energy.
In the wake of the bribery allegation by
Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for a
thorough investigation into the matter to establish the truth or otherwise in
order to preserve the image of the House.
He said leadership
must treat this as an urgent matter since the allegation was put up by somebody
who is a member of the Appointments Committee and comes from ‘within’ - in
order to purge the institution of any wrongdoing.
According to the majority
leader who is also the Minister-designate for Parliamentary Affairs, the
veracity of the allegation has to be properly established since it has the
potency to inflict ‘mortal wound’ on the reputation of the legislature, adding
that it (allegation) must not be wished away because it could seriously dent
the image of the Seventh Parliament if the truth is not established.
“It is not a
child’s play for somebody to go about labeling people without any shred of
evidence,” he charged.
Wild Allegation
According to Ayariga, the Minority Chief Whip had said that the
money was given to him by Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joe Osei
Owusu, who is also the First Deputy Speaker, and insisted later that Mr.
Osei-Owusu had confirmed to him (Ayariga) that the money came from Mr. Agyarko.
Mahama Ayariga then went on Radio
Gold on Friday and said that the minority MPs outrightly rejected envelopes
containing GH¢3,000 each when they found out from Mr. Osei-Owusu that the money
was coming from Mr. Agyarko.
According to Mahama Ayariga, the minority MPs first accepted the
money because they thought that it was their sitting allowance; but he claimed
he became alarmed and decided to return the money after they heard that it was
coming from Mr. Agyarko to bribe them to approve his nomination.
Radio Interview
“We were expecting our committee allowances from the chairman so
when we were called by our leader to come and take our money we took it,
knowing that that is our allowance,” he claimed on Radio Gold in an interview.
“So, as for the quantum, we cannot tell how much money he (Agyarko)
might have given to the chairman (Joseph Osei Owusu) , so there are all sorts
of speculations about what sort of quantum he is alleged to have given but what
we know is what came to us as individuals, that is what we can bear testimony
to: whether it’s GH¢1 or GH¢2, no matter how small it is, what we know is what
was given to us and we found out later that it was coming from him (Agyarko) so
as for the quantum, it’s not important.”
He continued, “For me, the most important thing is that we were
expecting to be given our committee sitting allowances, and we were promised by
our chairman that it would come very soon, and we were called to pick up money
from our Whip (Muntaka). We picked it up and assumed that it was our allowances
and then later we heard rumours in the house and we called our leader and asked
him ‘where is the money coming from?’ He said it came from the chairman but the
chairman said it was coming from Boakye Agyarko so that is where we realised
that we (couldn’t) take money from Boakye Agyarko,” adding, “So we asked him to
take his money back; we are not interested. The quantum is insignificant, even
if he had brought GH¢1 million, we would still return it to him.”
Under Pressure
Mahama Ayariga is currently under pressure to substantiate the wild
allegation following outright denials by Mr. Osei-Owusu, Alhaji Muntaka and Boakye Agyarko.
On Saturday, Muntaka was on Joy
FM swearing by ‘Allah’ that he never gave any money to Mahama Ayariga who
is his best friend.
"I'm a Muslim and Ayariga is also a Muslim. I want to swear by
Allah that, I've never given any money to Ayariga claiming that it's from Hon.
Joe Osei-Wusu," the Minority Chief Whip fumed.
Muntaka said that
from day one, the MPs had resolved that they were not going to take money from
any nominee who appeared before the Vetting Committee and when the host of the
programme, Samson Anyenini, asked what made it necessary to hold a meeting to
say that they would not take money from a nominee, the line went dead.
Chairman’s
Denial
Mr. Osei-Owusu also denied ever giving money to Muntaka on the
instructions of Mr. Agyarko saying, “Hon Ayariga knows that I have never spoken
to him or Muntaka or any member about money. I have never received any monies
from Agyarko or anybody for that matter… I will take steps that will protect my
integrity,” he said.
“There are not
many people from the other side that I like anyway, for me to go to that level…
I cannot get into friendship with people I seem to be uncomfortable with to
even go and give them bribes. I have been a lawyer for 27 years; can I just get
up and go to anyone to offer them bribe? You can only do that with somebody you
are friends with,” he fumed.
He said he was
surprised because Ayariga had said it was a prank to pin down Boakye Agyarko
since he had called Ex-President Mahama a corrupt person.
Frivolous Claim
In the ensuing debate, the Leadership of parliament issued a
statement urging the public to disregard Mahama Ayariga’s bribe claim.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by acting Public Affairs
Director, Kate Addo, described Mahama Ayariga’s claim as ‘frivolous’ and
‘vexatious.’
“We have noted with concern allegations that the leadership and
members of the Appointments Committee have been bribed by some of the president’s
nominees to facilitate the recommendation of approval of their nomination as ministers
to the House. Parliament would like to state categorically and without any
equivocation that these allegations are frivolous and vexatious and should be
disregarded.”
The statement further said, “Parliament attaches a lot of importance
to its constitutional duties and abhors practices that will not only affect its
work but also bring the institution into disrepute. Therefore extreme care is
taken and thorough background checks are made before chairpersons to the
various committees are appointed.
“This is to ensure that the works they oversee are meticulously
carried.”
The House concluded that,
“Parliament will therefore like to state that no such event has taken place and
anybody having any information to the contrary, must resort to the laws of the
land and take the appropriate action for redress.”
Agyarko’s Reaction
Meanwhile, Mr. Agyarko who has since been passed to become Minister
of Energy and was subsequently sworn into office by President Akufo-Addo, has
reacted to Mahama Ayariga’s claim saying that his lawyers were studying the tapes
to advise him on the line of action to take.
He also said he was expecting Mahama Ayariga to substantiate the
claim or face him in court.
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