Minority Leader denies $5,000 GT- Vodafone tip-for-vote

Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame, Mr Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu,

Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Suame, Mr Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has denied allegations that New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament in the last Parliament took “incentives” for voting for the Vodafone deal.

The NPP MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, P.C. Appiah-Ofori, told Joy News on Monday his colleagues in the last Parliament received $5,000 for voting for the Vodafone deal.

The MP said he picked up information that members of the then Majority side had received the amount after voting in favour of the agreement between Vodafone UK and the Government of Ghana.

But in a swift rebuttal, Mr Mensah-Bonsu, also MP for Suame, said Mr Appiah-Ofori's claims could not be true.

He however maintained Parliament has, as a matter of practice, instituted a special package for members on occasions the house over-stayed to deliberate on issues.

Such packages, he said, were “nothing much to write home about” but incentives to compensate members for sitting beyond their mandated working hours.

While he could not recollect if Parliament indeed sat longer to warrant compensation during deliberations over the GT-Vodafone deal, Mr Mensah-Bonsu said in earlier sittings when the House stayed beyond their normal sitting hours, “we then may tell the executive that if we could have some incentives.”

“I don't recollect directly but if it happened it could have been, not that people will say that pay us a bribe before we sit; that cannot be part of parliamentary business,” the Suame MP indicated.

Speaking at the inter-ministerial committee appointed by President Mills to review the deal, Mr Appiah-Ofori maintained the monies were indeed paid to the members through the leadership of the House.

Mr Appiah-Ofori cited the former Chief of Staff Kwadwo Mpiani as the one who extended the cash to the leadership of Parliament.

The MP told Joy News he picked up the information from the Majority Leader and MP for Ave-Avenor, Doe Adjaho, and subsequently had it corroborated by another member of the House, Ofori Kragu, MP for Bosome Freho.

Mr Appiah-Ofori said an attempt to get the matter investigated by the government then was frustrated.

He claimed he was reprimanded by the then Deputy Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for petitioning the Chief of Staff to investigate the matter.

Meanwhile Mr Kwadwo Mpiani has also refuted the Mr Appiah-Ofori's allegations saying they were “absolutely untrue.”

He acknowleged that the MP wrote to him to enquire of the allegations but he denied, after which Appiah-Ofori even wrote to apologise to him, claiming he had been misled.

The inter-ministerial committee investigating the sale has been tasked to establish whether or not there were some underhand dealings in the sale of 70% of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone UK, a deal that was widely criticised by leading members of the new administration and the Convention People's Party (CPP).

Story by Fiifi Koomson/Myjoyonline