It is not all bad news emerging from allegation of bribery that has embroid the parliament of Ghana. There is also a love affair.
Hon. Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, the Minority Chief whip, has revealed that the man, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, accusing him of being at the centre of the parliamentary bribery allegation is his best friend.
Hon. Muntaka made this disclosure when he appeared before the Hon. Joe Ghartey committee, adhoc parliamentary committee investigating the bribery allegations, on Monday 20th February 2017.
He has however insisted on his innocence and maintained that he is very shoked that this is coming from a best friend. ‘But the trust is gone and I cannot even talk to him since that bribery allegations. ‘ He added.
It is recalled that the Hon. Mahama Ayariga had in a radio interview stirred the hornet’s nest when he alleged that the President’s nominee for the Energy Ministry, hon. Boakye Agyako, in order to facilitate his approval as minister, bribed the minority members of Parliament’s Appointment Committee through the chairman of the committee, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu, who dispensed with the said bribe money through the minority chief whip, the Hon. Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak.
The parliament of Ghana in recent time has come under the public light for the wrong reasons. It was the allegation of the Hon. Paul Collins Appiah Ofori that parliamentarians took bribes before approving of the sale of majority shares of Ghana Telecom that brought parliamentary corruption to the fore for public debate.
Indeed a former Attorney General and a self-styled anti corruption crusader, Hon. Martin Amidu, has categorically accused the 5th and 6th parliament of Ghana for being very corrupt as it allowed the pervasiveness of corruption in the executive to entangle it.
The future credibility of parliament depends on the outcome of the ongoing Joe Ghartey Committee. While many have seen this committee as an opportunity for parliament to clean it’s ailing image, others think this is just a face saving exercise, which will amount to nothing, especially so when an allegation against parliament is being investigated by parliament itself and not an independent body.
Daniel Koranteng Kwagyiri |ahotoronline.com|Ghana
