Tag: Mahama Ayariga

Bribery scandal: Ayariga, Agyarko to face Ghartey c’ttee today
Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, Energy minister Boakye Agyarko and majority chief whip Muntaka Mubarak will today, Friday February 17, appear before Parliament’s investigative ad-hoc committee as the probe into the bribery allegation against the appointments committee continues .
At the last sitting, chairman of the appointments committee, Joe Osei Wusu, changed his earlier narrative that Mr. Ayariga had confessed to deliberately putting out the bribery claims to even out accusations of corruption against former president Mahama.
The chairman claimed it was rather North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto who had made the confession.
Following the claim, Mr. Okudzeto’s lawyers have written to the committee to give their client an opportunity to be heard in his own defense or they will explore the legal options available to him.
Last month MP for Bawku Central Mahama accused then minister designate for Energy Boakye Agyarko of bribing the ten minority members on the Appointments Committee with GHc3,000 each prior to his approval.
The uproar that greeted the allegation forced the house to take steps to clear its battered image.
February 17, 2017
Ayariga could be suspended – Majority chief whip
The MP for Bawku Central and a member of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, Mahama Ayariga, risks being suspended should his bribery allegation against the committee turns out to be false.
Mr. Ayariga Friday accused Energy minister, Boakye Agyarko of attempting to bribe the minority members of the committee, to clear him following his edgy vetting – but they rejected it.
According to him, the energy minister’s bribery attempt was made through the chairman of the committee, Joseph Osei Owusu which was given to the minority caucus by its chief whip, Muntaka Mubarak.
Commenting on the matter Monday in an interview with Nii Arday Clegg on Morning Starr, the majority chief whip, Ameyaw Cheremeh warned that the Bawku Central legislator could face expulsion from the House should he fail to deduce compelling evidence to back his claim.
For him, the corruption allegation is quite confusing and disturbing, stating that any payment by parliament is made by its accounts office or by the clerks to the various committees.
“It is not the duty of any member of parliament to pay monies on behalf of parliament. So that shows that his [Ayariga’s] story is not true. He is just making up the story,” Mr. Cheremeh told Clegg.
He added : “It is not the duty of Honourable Muntaka [Mubarak] to go and take money from the accounts office to go and pay to the minority. Neither is it my duty as the majority chief whip to go and take monies meant for majority members and pay to them. That is not what we do.”
He said the story does not add up and that Mr. Ayariga would be made to prove the allegation “and suffer the consequence if it turns out to be false.”
Denials
The chairman of the committee, Osei-Owusu and Minority chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak have both denied the allegation, describing it as preposterous.
Speaking Saturday in an interview, Mr. Mubarak said the allegation is untrue and strange maintaining that by Allah he “never gave Ayariga anything that it was coming from Osei Owusu.”
Also, Osei Owusu in an interview with Starr News rubbished the allegation hinting that he would proceed to court Tuesday to clear his name.
“I will make a general statement on the floor and then on Tuesday proceed to the court to clear my name in this matter legally; and that’s what I will do,” he said.
Again, Mr. Agyarko has also denied ever bribing the committee.
January 30, 2017
I’ve nothing personal against Osafo Marfo – Ayariga
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has clarified that his dissention to the Senior Minister portfolio created by President Akufo-Addo is not borne out of hatred for the minister-designate, Yaw Osafo Marfo.
Mr. Ayariga in a letter to the president argued that the Senior Minister designation was unconstitutional and “discriminatory.”
He said: “A Senior Minister suggests the existence of a hierarchy among Ministers of State. There is no hierarchy among ‘Ministers of State’ appointed under articles 58 and 256.”
“At best, there could be informal seniority protocols within government once approval as Ministers of State is given by parliament. I am not operating in the realm of protocols now. I am asking that we pay attention to the dictates of the language of our constitutions when communicating to other constitutional bodies and arms of government,” he wrote.
Explaining the contents of his letter Thursday on Morning Starr during an interview with host Nii Arday Clegg, the former Minister of Environment, Science and Technology said his actions were in good faith, aimed at upholding the supremacy of the constitution.
“We [Parliamentarians] swore to preserve and respect the constitution,” he said, adding that “It’s important to keep with the wording of the constitution.”
According to him, his opposition to the portfolio that would be manned by the former Finance Minister, is not personal but in the interest of the constitution.
“Everybody knows Honourable Osafo Marfo, he is an excellent gentleman, well experienced, he’s been minister for several ministries and we all know his track-record and etc…” said Mr. Ayariga.
“So there is really no issue with the competence of Honourable Osafo Marfo and this challenge to what the president has done is not about Honourable Osafo Marfo…it [the challenge] has nothing do with [him] because he did not nominate himself.
“It’s the president who has nominated him and we’re simply questioning the conduct of the president.”
He has thus called on the president to change Osafo Marfo’s portfolio to Minister of state in accordance with article 78(1) of the constitution.
“That is what the constitution states Minister of state,” he maintained.
January 19, 2017