I was refused my $5,000 share of the Vodafone bribe - PC Appiah Ofori

Antigraft crusader and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Esikuma-Odobin-Brakwa Constituency, Mr. P C Appiah Ofori has revealed that he was refused his share of the Vodafone bribe by colleague lawmakers on the majority side at the time.

He insists that indeed some New Patriotic Party (NPP) lawmakers and members of Communications Committee of parliament were each paid $5,000 to vote for the sale of Vodafone but he was denied for being the only member on the majority side to vote against it.

“They refused to give me my share of the bribe because they were scared I will blow their cover. It was an NDC MP who told me what they had received”, he revealed on Diamond FM in Tamale.

According to him, there was noway he would have accepted the bribe which came from the Presidency through the then Chief of Staff.

It would be recalled that the outspoken former lawmaker alleged in 2008 that money came from the Office of the President and was dished out to the MP’s by former Chief of Staff, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani.

The former MP, who petitioned the Mills administration in 2009 to review the sale of Ghana Telecom, said the money was used to influence the NPP MPs to vote for the deal.

He told an inter-ministerial Committee reviewing the sale of Ghana Telecom at the time that he was so disappointed about the blatant ‘bribery’ by the then Presidency that he wrote to the Office of the President complaining about it.

PC Appiah Ofori said even though the office of the then president refused to respond to his letter, Kwadwo Mpiani accosted him, saying that if the letter had fallen into the hands of the opponents it could have spelt disaster for the party.

“They didn’t respond, Kwadwo Mpiani rather reprimanded me, saying that don’t I know that if the letter had gotten into the wrong hands, it would negatively affect the image of the government?”