The Communications Director of the United Party, Solomon Owusu, says the party has petitioned key accountability institutions to investigate allegations of extortion and absenteeism involving Parliament.
Speaking to Austin Woode on Morning Starr on Starr FM, Mr. Owusu said the petition follows allegations made by the CEO of GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, against minority leader Afenyo Markin, and their implications for the exercise of state power.
“The allegation by Sammy Gyamfi is that Afenyo-Markin have subdued state power, and he wants it to be stopped. That is why we have involved the relevant accountability institutions.
Sammy Gyamfi is a parliamentarian, and so the integrity of Parliament or the institution of Parliament has also been drawn into the fray,” he said.
Mr. Owusu disclosed that copies of the petition have been sent to the Attorney General, the Ghana Police Service, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the judge through their official email addresses.
He said the OSP has already acknowledged receipt of the petition, insisting that the institutions can no longer claim they were unaware of the allegations.
“We have emailed it to them, from the Attorney General and all relevant authorities all of them, we’ve sent soft copies of our petition to them. In fact, the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s email sent a response to us acknowledging the receipt of our petition. So nobody can say they have not seen it,” Mr. Owusu stated.
According to him, the party expects the relevant institutions to initiate investigations into allegations of extortion involving the Minority in Parliament.
“We did not have any avenue than to resort to some institutions and present our petitions. So we are still giving them the opportunity that we got yesterday”. he stated.
“They did not even need us, as a matter of fact, to even petition them. They should have immediately, when they made the allegations of extortion against the Minority, started investigations,” he argued.
Mr. Owusu also questioned allegations involving a Chief Executive Officer of a state institution and the Minority Leader.
“What has been at play here is a Chief Executive Officer of a state institution accusing a Minority Leader of trying to stop. Are you not scandalised by that?” he asked.
He said the current petition forms part of a broader effort by the United Party to investigate what it describes as a pattern of alleged extortion within the system.
“Beyond what Sammy Gyamfi has said, we have had a litany of cases that have to do with extortion and that, in the coming days, we would be exposing the system,” he said.
Describing the petition as “the first leg of the whole issues,” Mr. Owusu said the party was determined to pursue the matter further in what he described as an effort to protect the country.
“And we are very much clear in our mind where we want to get to, because we must save our country,” he concluded.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Pamela Quayson
