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Mr Joe Ghartey
Mr Joe Ghartey

Joe Ghartey Committee presents report today

“The axe will fall where it should fall,” a source close to the committee that investigated the allegation that the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko, had bribed Minority members on the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) through its Chairman to approve his nomination has hinted as the committee is expected to submit its report today.

The source told the Daily Graphic that findings would represent the truth about the alleged bribery saga.

It also made it clear that the committee would give its verdict without fear or favour or ill-will towards anybody.

It said the committee went into a kind of conclave at Aburi in the Eastern Region ,at the weekend, to finalise its report, saying that “the issues have been agreed on unanimously”.

Quoting the Standing Orders of Parliament, the source said: “The Chairman shall not have an original vote, but in the event of equality of votes, he shall give the casting vote,” adding that with two members from either each side of Parliament, the committee had no choice but to work to achieve unanimity of purpose.

It has been almost two months since the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Michael Aaron Oquaye, set up the committee to investigate allegations of bribery levelled against the then Minister designate for Energy, Mr Agyarko.

Although the Speaker had given the committee, which started sitting on February 15, 2017, a month to conclude its work, it extended its timeline to allow for more evidence to be provided to assist in the investigations.

With the public agitating last week that the report of the committee should be released and not covered up, it now appears the committee has finally completed its work and it is expected to release its report today.

Genesis of the allegation

On January 27, 2017, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mr Mahama Ayariga, in a radio interview, had alleged that Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak had given each Minority member on the ACP GH¢3,000.

He said following rumours that the money had been sent by Mr Agyarko, he (Ayariga) confronted Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak about the source and Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak told him that it was  Mr Joseph Osei-Wusu who gave it to him (Mohammed-Mubarak), with the explanation that the money was from Mr Agyarko.

Mr Ayariga said following that revelation, he, together with his colleagues on the Minority, returned the money because initially they had thought it was a sitting allowance.

But Mr Osei-Wusu denied taking any money from Mr Agyarko, while Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak also denied giving any money to Mr Ayariga.

Mr Agyarko also refuted the allegation that he had given money to Minority members on the ACP and threatened legal action against Mr Ayariga.

Firestorm

What started as an allegation on radio by Mr  Ayariga snowballed into a firestorm on the airwaves and in Parliament, with the Chairman of the ACP, Mr Osei-Wusu, and Mr Agyarko, threatening legal action.

To give impetus to the allegation, Mr Ayariga and two other MPs — Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, and Alhassan Suhuyini, the MP for Tamale North — petitioned the Speaker to conduct an internal enquiry into the issue on January 30, 2017.

In a joint petition to the Speaker, the three MPs said: “We jointly request you to carry out an internal enquiry into the veracity of the claims made by us in the allegation of attempted bribery of the Minority members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament by a ministerial nominee.

“We, the three (3) Members of Parliament, will subject ourselves fully to the processes of the enquiry.”

On the floor of Parliament, Mr Osei-Wusu, the MP for Bekwai, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, also gave a fiery statement denying the allegation and asking for the Speaker’s blessing to vindicate himself in court.

With pressure mounting in and outside Parliament for the issue to be investigated, Mr Oquaye, on January 30, 2017, set up the committee, chaired by the MP for Essikado-Ketan, Mr Joe Ghartey, to look into the allegations and present a report within a month.

The Majority and the Minority leaders applauded the decision, stating that establishing the truth would help restore public confidence in Parliament.

But they were also quick to add that the issue must be handled well.

 

 

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