Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has called on anyone with evidence of ministerial nominees paying bribes for their approval to come forward.
His challenge comes in response to allegations made by lawyer and activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor, who claimed that the Appointments Committee demanded money from nominees in exchange for their approval.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express, Ayariga dismissed the claims, emphasizing that integrity in governance is paramount.
“The issue of protecting your integrity is sometimes even more important than the substance of what you do because, as I indicated, you will go very far if you are perceived to have integrity,” the Bawku Central MP stated.
“For me, spending time to really erase all doubts regarding your integrity is very important.”
Ayariga revealed that upon hearing about the allegations, he urged the Chairman of the Appointments Committee to invite Barker-Vormawor to substantiate his claims.
“I said, call him, let him come. And if he has anything and he can substantiate it, we need to deal with it openly and transparently,” he said.
“At least, he spent a few days on the committee. What personal knowledge or otherwise does he have to share on these claims that money was paid to members of the committee to approve some nominees?”
Reaffirming his stance, Mr. Ayariga maintained that he is unaware of any such transaction.
“I am unaware of any such thing, and that is why I think he should come. Maybe he has something, maybe… because, you see, in this country, all sorts of things happen,” he added.
Sharing an anecdote, Mahama Ayariga recounted an encounter with someone from a particular sector who expressed interest in “helping” their ministerial nominee get approved.
“I actually met somebody who operates in a sector, and the person said, ‘Oh, our sector minister is being considered this week, so we want to go and help him.’ And I asked, ‘Has the sector minister asked you to come and help him?’ The person said, ‘No, no, we just want to come together and help him,’” he narrated.
The former Sports Minister categorically rejected the notion that any sector or group should mobilize funds to secure ministerial approval.
“I told the person, ‘I don’t think there’s a need for you and people in your sector to be mobilizing money that you are going to help your minister because we won’t even accept it,’” he stated.
Mr. Ayariga emphasized the importance of building institutions with integrity and credibility, stating that Parliament will always welcome individuals who come forward with evidence of wrongdoing.
“If he has anything about money being handed over to Appointments Committee members, he should just come, and we’ll look into it. And I encourage it—not just this instance, but any other instance—because we want to build institutions that have integrity, are credible, and in which Ghanaians have trust and confidence,” he stressed.
The Majority Leader also questioned the motivation behind the allegations, noting that with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in power and holding a strong parliamentary majority, there would be no need for any nominee to offer bribes for approval.
“NDC is in power. We have 184 members, and then we have four independent members. Two are actually NDC members, while the others, though not originally NDC, have agreed to do business with us. We can approve anybody,” he explained.
“No nominee needs to give anybody any money because, as a party, you will be whipped in line to vote according to the party’s interest. There’s no way any nominee has to pay for approval unless there’s something fundamentally wrong with them,” Mahama Ayariga continued.
“And in that instance, if it is revealed through a petition or something else that there is really an issue with the nomination, we’ll go back to His Excellency and say, ‘Please, Excellency, we know your standards. This nominee does not meet them. Can you withdraw the nomination?’”
Mr. Ayariga further noted that most of the nominees are already sitting Members of Parliament, which, constitutionally, qualifies them to be ministers of state.
“If you observe, most of them are already MPs. Constitutionally, at the barest minimum, they are qualified to be ministers of state,” he said.
In conclusion, he reiterated that there was no reason for nominees to offer bribes for their approval.
“There is no single nominee there that has any challenge of being processed successfully by Parliament. So, there’s no need for anyone to give anybody anything. I have not seen it,” he insisted.
“I’ll be surprised if he comes up with anything tomorrow. I’ll be surprised.”
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