Bibery scandal: Ayariga lied under oath; should apologise to Allah – Lawyer Oppong

Legal Practitioner, Yaw Oppong has accused Mahama Ayariga of indulging in perjury by apologising to the speaker in Parliament over the alleged bribery claims he levelled against a Minister and some Members of Parliament.

According to Lawyer Oppong, Mahama Ayariga’s apology only goes to prove the fact that the oath he swore on the Quaran before the Joe Ghartey committee in parliament was a false one and hence he needs to apologise first to Allah.

Mr. Ayariga before speaking to members of the 5-member ad hoc committee set to investigate the bribery allegations swore an oath with the Quaran; which binds him to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He however apologized per the recommendations in the report, to the Speaker and the entire house in parliament after the report on the alleged bribery allegations was released by the committee.

But Lawyer Oppong speaking on TV3’s NewDay Saturday said that Mr. Ayariga ought to have publicly declared before the house that he had lied before apologising because his apology contradicts the oath he swore earlier before the release of the report and therefore should not be accepted.

“For me, the first entity that Honorable Ayariga should apologise to is his Allah, if you decide to apologise, first he must publicly declare that he did not tell the truth before any apology will be accepted…if he doesn’t declare that he lied, no apology should be acceptable", he said.

He added that the mere taking of an oath by a person is not evidence enough that the person will speak the truth as it is on the issues.

Background

The Joe Ghartey Committee concluded after investigations following bribery claims against Members of the Appointments Committee and Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko that the Bawku Central MP, Mr. Mahama Ayariga is in Contempt of Parliament on the strength of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament.”

The committee, after rubbishing Mr. Ayariga’s bribery allegation on Thursday, asked him to render an unqualified apology to purge himself of contempt.

But Mr. Ayariga, who appeared unhappy with the work of the committee, reluctantly rendered the apology, saying : “Mr. Speaker, if you say I should apologize, I have apologized.”

Before this apology, he said the committee’s recommendations were problematic, especially when it failed to conduct due diligence by cross examining the “other sides” to arrive at a fair conclusion.

He also said the committee did not have the mandate to declare him in contempt of the court.