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0 Executive Director of Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr. Rasheed Draman has urged Parliament to nip in the bud bribery allegations against its members.
His advice follows the summon by the Appointments Committee of Parliament for the convenor of FixTheCountry and DemocracyHub, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, to appear before the House to substantiate some bribery claims he made against the members of the Committee.
Speaking in an interview on Ghana Tonight, Tuesday, January 28, ACEPA boss recalled that in the seventh and eight Parliament similar allegations were levelled against MPs, yet Parliament did not fully clear itself of the suspicion and accusations.
He noted that it is time for the House to come clean on matters of bribery allegations as the public will continue to harbour suspicion that MPs are corrupt.
“The bribery allegations are not new. In the 7th Parliament, the case of Boakye Agyarko and all the controversies around the fact that some people took monies and so on.
“I think that was an opportunity for Parliament at that time to clear its name, and put, if there was anything like that happening, to put a stop to it. We didn’t see very much of it and now this issue has resurfaced.
“We don’t know what evidence the lawyer has and he is looking very much forward to meeting the committee which seems to suggest that he has some evidence. This I believe now, is an opportunity for Parliament to make sure that they come clean about these,” he advised.
“People have been murmuring, there are talks sometimes in silent about somethings that have been going on in the Committee that are not right, this is an opportunity now, particularly given the trust that Ghanaians have handed over to the NDC to make sure that things are put right,” he added.
It can be recalled that in the eight Parliament, the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), kicked against the appointment of ministerial nominees in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration but yet got approved by members of both caucuses after their vetting.
This raised questions about the credibility of the representation on the committee, with many alleging that money might have exchanged hands to warrant the approval of such nominees, including the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta and Hawa Koomson.
The post It’s an opportunity for Parliament to clear its name – ACEPA Boss on Voramwor’s ‘bribery’ allegations first appeared on 3News.
