Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has waded into the bribery allegations against some Members of Parliament, with a call for the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill.
According to the Executive Director of GII, Linda Ofori Kwafo, the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers’ bill, which has been in Parliament since 2014, will help sanction public officers who misconduct themselves.
She said while bribery allegations in Parliament were not new, this saga presents a window of opportunity for a better more comprehensive investigations to be conducted into the matter.
She stressed that her outfit was keeping a keen interest on the matter and will ensure that it is not swept ‘under the carpet.’
“The GII is waiting to take up the matter after Parliament’s ad hoc committee completes its work. If the allegation of bribery is confirmed by the committee, the GII will report the matter to the police for investigations. A bribe is a crime,” she stressed.
But a more holistic approach to fighting corruption within the public space is the passage of the Conduct of Public Officers’ Bill to ensure an effective ethical governance, she added.
A public officer found to have violated the code may be barred from holding public office for a specific period, depending on the gravity of the behaviour.
The bill is to give legal backing to the code launched by former President John Dramani Mahama in July 2013.
The code was launched following an embarrassing recording of private conversations by the driver of dismissed Deputy Communications Minister, Victoria Hammah.
But by November 2016, President Dramani Mahama was accused of violating his own code of conduct after accepting a Ford Expedition gift from a Burkinabe contractor.
Codes of conduct for public officers are not new. CHRAJ in 2006 launched the Code of Conduct for Public Officers of Ghana and Guidelines on Conflict of Interest based on Chapter 24 of the 1992 Constitution.
Article 284 of Chapter 24 states that “A public officer shall not put himself in a position where his personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the performance of the functions of his office.”
It would be recalled that five MPs have been named in a bribery saga which is under investigation by a special ad-hoc committee of Parliament.
The investigations were triggered by the Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, who claimed he returned a GHC3,000 bribe to the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, whom he claimed got the money from the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei-Wusu.
The money, according to Ayariga, was intended to influence him to approve the then Energy Minister-nominee, Boakye Agyarko, after he was vetted by the Appointments Committee.
He mentioned two other MPs—Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa and Alhassan Suhuyini—as his witnesses.
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