The Chairman of the Appointments Committee of
Parliament, Joe Osei Owusu said he failed to press for proof or investigated a
bribery allegation against his committee because the MP for North Tongu,
Okudzeto Ablakwa, told him the allegation was a frame-up.According to
him, the North Tongu MP said the Minority MPs were only trying to equalize the
corruption allegations made by the Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko against
former President John Mahama.
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central,
Mahama Ayariga had on several platforms alleged that the Minister of Energy
Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe some members of the Appointments Committee to
approve his nomination after a rancorous vetting.
The allegation was
supported by two MPs – Okudzeto Ablakwa and MP for Tamale North Alhansan
Suhuyini -, but Mr. Joe Osei Owusu and Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mohammed who
were mentioned in the bribery allegation have flatly denied it.
It was
suggested that Mr. Osei Owusu who is also the First Deputy Speaker was used as
the conduit by Mr. Boakye to allegedly bribe some members on the committee, who
are mainly from the Minority side in Parliament with 3000 cedis each. Parliament
therefore set a five-member committee to investigate the allegation, which sat
for the first time on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.
When he appeared
before the committee of inquiry, Joe Osei Owusu said he was angered by the
allegation but in a closed door meeting with Mr. Ablakwa and some MPs, Mr.
Ablakwa said they were only “spreading the corruption allegation”, which
elicited laughter from those who were in the room.
He said the atmosphere
in the room was charged but the admission by Ablakwa calmed down “tempers”
because “I had insisted that the allegation is investigated”.
He could
not however tell if the North Tongu MP was joking or serious when he claimed
that “they put that (allegation) out as an equalization”.
But he noted
that in the lobby of Parliament, Mr. Ablakwa repeated his confession in the
presence of the MP for Adansi Asokwa, K.T Hammond that the Minority wanted Mr.
Agyarko to feel the “heat Mahama faced” when he (Agyarko) called the former
leader corrupt.
When asked why he did not press for investigation, Mr.
Joe Osei Owusu said he “considered it to be one of the political games and
wanted it to go”.
However he became incensed when Mahama Ayariga went on
radio stations to continue to peddle “untruth about me”, he indicated. He was
emphatic that he never took money from anyone or discussed anything that has to
do with money with any member of the Appointments Committee.
|
| |
|
|
|
