Governance experts want Bagbin’s bribe claims probed
Three governance experts have called for investigations into claims by a former Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, that some Members of Parliament (MPs) take bribes.
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They are of the view that issues of corruption in Parliament should not be swept under the carpet; rather every effort should be made to get to the bottom of the matter.
The experts are Mr Daniel Batidam, the Executive Director of the African Parliamentarian Network Against Corruption (APNAC); Dr Franklin Oduro, the Deputy Director of the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD); and Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, the Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG).
In separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, the governance experts called for investigations and asked the Speaker of Parliament to show leadership by vigorously tackling corruption in Parliament.
APNAC
Mr Batidam challenged Ghanaians not to let the issue die naturally.
He also urged the media to take up the challenge of investigating for informative pieces on the allegation, so that they could inform the public and help in the process of finding solutions to the problem.
He said the allegation was not about whether one could prove it or not, since in most cases corruption was difficult to prove, but the issue was that the allegation provided the opportunity for all to admit the challenge and work in a concerted manner to find solutions.
Not peculiarly African
Mr Batidam said the allegation was neither surprising, nor was it peculiar to Ghana’s Parliament or other Parliaments in Africa.
He cited examples in the United Kingdom where MPs alleged to have taken bribes or to whom wrong payments had been made had to resign after the issue had been investigated and evidence provided.
"The problem in our part of the world is that the issue is flagged for sometime and we all go to sleep afterwards," he said.
He recalled the bribery allegation by another MP, Mr P.C. Appiah-Ofori, who, in 2008, had said that MPs had received some money to push through the sale of Ghana Telecom.
He said the MP was asked to go to court and adduce evidence to prove it but that was not done, resulting in the issue being swept under the carpet.
Mr Batidam said the way to go about the allegation was to use anecdotal information as the basis for putting in place systems and procedures to prevent corruption in the Legislature.
He said guidelines on lobbying and a code of conduct for Parliamentarians were needed.
He was of the view that referring the matter to the Privileges Committee of Parliament was the legal way which would require proof.
However, he said, such an approach was just one of several measures to take.
He said Parliament's own internal mechanism would have to be exhausted on the matter before resorting to other constitutional bodies such as the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) in order not to undermine the Legislature.
CDD - No new accusations
Dr Oduro said various surveys, such as Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index and Afrobarometer surveys, had featured the fact of corrupt public officials, including MPs and other public servants.
What was not known was the type and level of corruption in the Legislature, he said.
He said it was, therefore, important for further probe to get to the bottom of the allegation and get to know whether people had to deliberately pay money to influence legislation or some other form of corruption was at play.
Dr Oduro said the accusations were not new, recalling some allegations of bribery in Parliament made by some MPs in the past.
"But such allegations were all not verified and if they keep recurring, then it is of concern for governance and every citizen.
"This is because Parliament exercises oversight responsibility over the public purse and policy. If MPs are themselves found wanting, then their powers will be eroded, as people will impugn different motives to every statement made on the floor of Parliament or to every legislation passed.
Parliament must investigate
Dr Oduro added that because Parliament was said to be the master of its own institution, it would be proper for the institution itself to set in motion its processes to get to the bottom of the allegation.
"The more we use institutional systems and capacity, the more we test them," he said.
IDEG - Speaker must lead
Dr Akwetey of IDEG called on the Speaker of Parliament to authorise a non-partisan investigation into the allegation.
He was also of the view that the Speaker had to clearly come out on the allegation and also let Ghanaians know the strategy in Parliament for dealing with corruption.
"He must show robust leadership in fighting corruption and there are examples from other jurisdictions like the UK for him to use," he said.
Issue complex, systemic
Dr Akwetey said the government and the political parties could not extricate themselves from the allegation because while cautioning those receiving bribes, those giving them also had to be cautioned.
He said parties controlled Parliament by having their members represented there, for which reason the position of parties had to be known on the matter to feed into the measures to be taken in preventing corruption.
"If we cannot get Parliament leading in the fight against corruption, where can we go with the fight?" he asked.
He also called for strong voices everywhere, but particularly in the media, so that the issues would be tackled.
Dr Akwetey warned that if that was not done and the trust in Parliament was eroded, it would result in the weakening of public confidence in governance institutions.
That, he said, would subsequently lead to violence, since the rule of law would not be adhered to and all would take matters into their own hands, instead of resorting to governance institutions for redress.