Ayariga bribery: Ghartey report doesn’t end the matter – Nduom

The Presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in the 2016 election, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, has described as inconclusive the Ghartey committee report that found the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, guilty of contempt.

According to him, the report “cannot end the matter” as a section of the public “believe that MPs demand inducements before they act.”

He said “this perception must not be allowed to stand” and that the responsibility lies with the “Speaker of Parliament and the leadership to address this positively.”

This was contained in short statement he issued Tuesday April 4, 2017.

Mr. Ayariga in January alleged that the Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko had attempted bribing members of the Appointments Committee from the minority to clear him for the position he currently holds following his edgy vetting—but they rejected it.

As a result, the speaker constituted the five-member ad hoc committee chaired by former Attorney General Joe Ghartey to probe the allegations.

And after days of sitting and scrutiny of the evidence provided by the witnesses that appeared before it, including Mr. Ayariga, the Joe Ghartey Committee charged the former for “gravely injuring” the image of the chairman of the vetting committee and parliament.

According to the report, Mr. Ayariga “failed to ascertain the veracity of the rumour prior to publishing same,” hence his indictment.

It thus charged him of contempt of parliament, thus facing a possible expulsion from the house.

This has angered some members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament and a section of the Ghanaian public.

As a result Dr. Nduom warned “if the representatives of the people don’t open up and address these allegations in a matter that receives the approval of many, the people may one day take the matters into their own hands.”