Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has strongly defended his claims that members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament were offered monies to approve the nomination of now Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko.
Appearing before the five-member ad-hoc committee investigating the bribery allegations the former minister of science and technology said it was a fact that monies were given as an attempt to bribe some members on the committee.
“Yes I took money from Hon. Mubarak who told me the money came from the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Mr. Joseph Osei-Wusu, on behalf of the then Energy Minister-designate, Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who had been struggling to be approved unanimously without rancour,” Mr. Ayariga opined.
According to Mr. Ayariga, he received a phone call from the minority chief whip that “the money had come,” which made him think it was their allowance and not money meant to bribe committee.
A member of the committee enquired further from Hon. Ayariga: “at the time the money was given to you, was it explained what the reason for the payment was?”
But in a quick response Mr. Ayariga said that they were agitating for their sitting allowances having sat deep into the night at previous sittings and they were assured that the chairman had raised a memo to the Speaker for the payment.
Mr. Ayariga also told the committee that on January 22, 2017 he received a call from Radio Gold in respect of a bribery allegation in Parliament and was asked to comment on it.
He confirmed to the committee that indeed he received the money from the minority chief whip, monies he initially thought were their sitting allowance, but when he was told it was a bribe coming from a ministerial nominee he together with other minority members on the Appointments Committee decided to return the money.
When asked whether he stood by comment he made on Radio Gold he answered in the affirmative, saying: “I still stand by my claim that the Minority Chief Whip, Hon. Mubarak, was the one who gave me the money.”
When Hon. Ghartey quizzed him if the energy minister-nominee was not approved by a majority decision on the Appointments Committee and what led to the change in decision by the minority to approve him by consensus? Hon. Ayariga explained that Mr. Agyarko upon further discussions withdrew some of the comments which the minority thought were in bad taste and in some cases he provided evidence to substantiate his claims and so the committee decided to now approve him by consensus.
Hon. Magnus Kofi Amoatey – MP, Yilo Krobo, asked Mr. Ayariga how many people were in the conclave meeting where it was agreed that the nominee will be approved by consensus, Hon. Ayariga said: “I can’t really remember the number but Hon. Muntaka, Hon. Samson Ahi, Hon. Osafo-Maafo, Mr. Boakye Agyarko and others were there.”
Hon. Amoatey probe further, saying “did you have any evidence apart from the rumour that Boakye Agyarko had paid bribes?”
Here Hon. Ayariga did not give a straight answer however, he opined “my interview and comments on bribery were based on what Muntaka told us.”
For his part, Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, stated categorically that he was taken aback after the Bawku Central MP, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, made the bribery allegation against him.
“I was shocked when I heard Mahama Ayariga telling the whole world that I gave him GH¢3,000.00 from Chairman of the Appointments Committee and distributed to minority members of the committee, Mr. Joseph Osei-Wusu, to help approve the appointment of then Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, Mr. Muntaka told the ad-hoc committee yesterday.
Later MP for North Tongu constituency, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Minister of Energy, Mr. Boagye Agarko, also appeared before the committee.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
