Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, February 2 1, 2017
National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP)
for Asawase, Alhaji Mubarak Muntaka, yesterday shot down allegation by his
colleague MP Mahama Ayariga that he (Muntaka) shared ‘bribe’ money among his
colleague members on the Appointments Committee.
The man also accused of inducing them with the payment to
facilitate his ministerial approval, Boakye Agyarko, also denied paying any
bribe to get his approval by parliament.
Agyarko’s
Denial
Mr. Agyarko stated categorically that he never gave money to
anyone, particularly the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joe
Osei-Owusu, to approve his (Agyarko’s) nomination to become Minister of Energy.
He said it was the Speaker of Parliament who called him to come
to the house to clear the outstanding issues where he provided proof of his
claim and said he handed the documents to the committee through the Chairman.
Mr Agyarko said he never felt his nomination was in danger
because he distinguished himself before the vetting committee and never felt
threatened.
“I had no motive to influence anybody with regards to my
nomination. I felt incredulous about the matter. I had done no such thing,” he
stated.
He said he always
believed that “the matter was so outlandish that it was going to fall flat, adding,
“I never gave anybody money to influence the Appointments Committee. “When we were at the Flagstaff House waiting to be sworn in,
a call came from parliament that myself and Osafo-Maafo were required to come
to parliament. When I came, I was confronted with three questions. The debt
status of the energy sector, the second was the building of FPSO and the third
was figurative language I had used about John Mahama in respect of the World
Bank breathing down his neck. I answered the first two questions and withdrew
the third comment.”
“At no point from my
vetting did I feel the confirmation of my nomination was at risk and therefore
had no motive to bribe anybody. If at all my confirmation was at risk, I knew
there was a majority in the appointments committee who could approve me by
majority decision and same could be done in the plenary so there was no motive at
all in paying any bribe.”
Muntaka
Digs Ayariga
Muntaka also denied categorically that he had brought money
to Mahama Ayariga and other NDC MPs, claiming it was given to him by 1st
Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu who is the Chairman of the Appointments
Committee, to influence the MPs to approve the nomination of Boakye Agyarko as
Energy Minister.
The Asawase MP said he was ‘shocked’ at the conduct of
Mahama Ayariga whom he described as “my best friend” and said it was unthinkable
of his colleague to peddle falsehood against him saying, “Hon. Ayariga is the
best friend I have on earth and I was shocked he was saying this about me. I
couldn’t see how I could speak to him
about this issue.”
The Minority Chief Whip alongside his counsel, Samson Lardi Ayenini
was testifying before the committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to
investigate Mahama Ayariga’s bribery scandal that rocked parliament about three
weeks ago.
The five-member committee chaired by Joe Ghartey, Minister
for Railways Development, is investigating among other things, whether Mr.
Osei-Owusu gave money to Alhaji Muntaka at the instance of Mr. Agyarko to be
distributed to minority NDC MPs on the Vetting Committee so that Mr. Agyarko
could be passed as Energy Minister.
Peddling
Falsehood
“It never happened. Hon. Joe Osei-Owusu has never discussed
money with me let alone influence members on the minority side,” he protested.
He said the first time he met Mr. Agyarko in real life was
when the nominee appeared before the committee adding, “I have never met him;
he has not sent anybody to me or called me to give me money to influence
members to approve his nomination.”
The Minority Chief Whip said that it was not in doubt that
members of the Appointments Committee at a point decided to voice out about
sitting allowances and the Chairman of the Committee had assured that he was working
it out with the speaker and added that normally, every MP collects his/her
allowances from the Accounts Office.
He confirmed that, initially, the minority had expressed
their reservations about Mr. Agyarko and Yaw Osafo-Maafo as Senior Minister but
after they were called in to clear certain issues at the Conclave, both the minority
and the majority decided to pass them by consensus.
“I never gave money to anyone. I am surprised about what
Hon. Ayariga said. I never received any money let alone share it among members.
“I was taken aback when I heard that Hon. Ayariga was saying
that I gave them money and said it was coming from the Chairman at the instance
of Hon. Agyarko. That had never happened. I was shocked where he got that
information from. I never told him that Hon. Osei-Owusu gave me money from
Agyarko to share it among members.”
He said he did not hear the Radio Gold interview where Mahama Ayariga first granted interview
on the matter on the 27th of January, but admitted that he granted
interview to Joy FM on the matter the
next day.
He said that anybody who says he gave them money and said it
was given to him by the Chairman from Agyarko will not be truthful, saying, “That’s
going to be concocted because that never existed.”
Ayariga’s
Evidence
Before the Minority Chief Whip testified, Mahama Ayariga, as
the main witness, had testified and admitted that he never dealt directly with Mr.
Agyarko or Mr. Osei-Owusu but insisted Alhaji Muntaka gave them money saying, “It
was the whip who asked us to come for the money.”
He admitted that Mr. Agyarko had subsequently satisfied the
minority that he could be approved when he brought documents on some of the
issues he raised at the vetting pointing out that, “Substantially, on certain
issues, he changed his position and others he withdrew so there was a consensus
to approve his nomination and that was not based on any payment of bribe.”
Radio
Gold
Mahama Ayariga appeared to shift the blame on Radio Gold, a pro-NDC radio station,
when he said the station called him about the allegation and he agreed to grant
interview.
He stated categorically that Mr. Agyarko’s approval was not
influenced by anything including bribery, apart from the fact that some
positions he held during the vetting had changed. “Ultimately, there was consensus
to the extent that the two nominees satisfied the minority and we changed our
position,” Ayariga claimed.
The Bawku Central MP insisted that it was a fact that Alhaji
Muntaka told them to come for money and they took it, and that there were
rumours about bribery and they asked the whip to find out what it was.
He also claimed that Alhaji Muntaka had said that the money
was coming from Mr. Agyarko and it had been given to the Whip by Mr. Osei-Owusu,
but said he had no basis of verifying the rumour.
He admitted he had no direct evidence that Mr. Osei-Owusu
took money from Mr. Agyarko and gave it to Alhaji Muntaka to be given to them.
Ablakwa’s
Entry
Later, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu, also
appeared with his lawyer Dr. Dominic A. Ayine who is also MP for Bolga East and
former Deputy Attorney General, to challenge some aspects of the evidence of
Mr. Osei-Owusu.
Mr. Osei-Owusu in his earlier testimony had said that in the
presence of K.T. Hammond, an NPP MP, Mr. Ablakwa remarked that they were
spreading the allegation because Mr. Agyarko had continuously said Mr. John
Mahama was a corrupt president.
Ablakwa said, “I never made those statements being
attributed to me. This same allegation had earlier been attributed to Hon.
Ayariga on Joy FM by Hon. Osei-Owusu,”
adding, “There are some inconsistencies in his statement.”
He asserted that he had no motive to go into conspiracy
against a nominee just to spread corruption allegation around.
“At no time did I meet with others to smear Mr. Agyarko,” he
insisted.
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