Bribery scandal: Make hearing public – Short

The sittings of the five-member committee instituted by parliament to investigate a bribery allegation against the Appointments Committee should be in public, Justice Emile Short, a former Commissioner at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has suggested.

Mr Short holds a strong belief that a transparent process will have greater chance of acceptability of the committee’s findings, especially by the public.

“I hope it will not be done in camera. I think it should be done in the open, just like the Public Accounts Committee sits and the public are allowed to attend,” he told Radio Gold’s Samuel Eshun on Wednesday, February 1.

The committee is chaired by Joe Ghartey, a former Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, with MPs Ben Abdallah, Ama Pomaa Boateng, Magnus Kofi Amoatey, and B.T. Baba as members.

Bawku Central Member of Parliament (MP) Mahama Ayariga had alleged that then-Energy Minister-designate Boakye Agyarko had offered cash through Appointments Committee chairman Joe Osei-Owusu, to be shared among Minority MPs on the committee.

Mr Ayariga claimed that GHS3000 was paid to each of the NDC MPs by Minority Chief Whip Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, an amount they thought was sitting allowance for MPs on the committee, but returned the monies when they heard a rumour that the amount had actually come from Mr Agyarko to influence them to endorse his nomination as minister.

Mr Osei-Owusu and Mr Muntaka have both denied the allegation.

Subsequently, Mr Ayariga, together with two other members of the committee: Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Alhassan Suhuyini, sent a petition to the Speaker to investigate the matter.

Mr Short has rejected calls for concurrent investigations, indicating that parliament should be given the benefit of any doubt to deal with the matter.