{"id":342421,"date":"2017-01-31T21:06:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/01\/31\/ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman\/"},"modified":"2017-01-31T21:06:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:06:11","slug":"ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/01\/31\/ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman\/","title":{"rendered":"Ayariga\u2019s bribery claim \u201ccolossal untruth\u201d &#8211; Appointments Committee Chairman"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">General News of Tuesday, 31 January 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Starrfmonline.com <\/p>\n<p>2017-01-31<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/81296028.295.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Osei Wusu\" title=\"Joe Osei Wusu\" width=\"295\" height=\"157\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=146252114537294\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=146252114537294\"><br \/>\n\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/1485896771_780_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">The chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu has described bribery allegations leveled against him by a member of the committee, Mahama Ayariga as \u201ccolossal untruth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He thus requested the speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye to grant him immunity to go to court and clear his bruised integrity in the bribery allegation that hit the committee he chairs.<\/p>\n<p>The speaker, however, declined concurring with arguments from the majority and minority leader to set up a committee to internally probe the allegation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe bribery scandal allegation means a lot to the reputation and dignity of parliament. Ghanaians are very angry,\u201d Haruna Iddrisu told the House.<\/p>\n<p>Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, the majority leader thus called for the constitution of a five member special committee \u201cto investigate the bribery allegation.<\/p>\n<p>The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and Member of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Mahama Ayariga last week accused Energy minister, Boakye Agyarko of attempting to bribe the minority members of the committee, to clear him following his edgy vetting\u2014but they rejected it.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the energy minister\u2019s bribery attempt was made through the chairman of the committee, Hon. Osei Owusu which was given to the minority caucus by its chief whip, Muntaka Mubarak.<\/p>\n<p>He had since petitioned the speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye to constitute a committee to investigate his claim.<\/p>\n<p>Making a formal statement on the allegation on the floor of parliament Tuesday, the first deputy speaker of parliament said he was livid by the allegation and that his heart desire was to go to court to reclaim his integrity.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the allegations as \u201ccolossal untruth,\u201d Mr. Osei Owusu lucidly maintained that: \u201cI have never discussed, requested, demanded or received money from Boakye Agyarko or any other person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said accusing the majority of bribing the minority to approve the nomination of the Energy Minister following his vetting was \u201cillogical and ill-motivated\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Africa Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Dr. Rasheed Draman has urged the leadership of parliament not be protective in dealing with the bribery allegation that hit its Appointments Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking Tuesday in an interview with Nii Arday Clegg on Morning Starr, he said the allegation was damning and not good for \u201cour country and our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He told Clegg that the leadership of parliament need to thoroughly investigate the allegation to re-claim its damaged reputation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to claim back the image of Parliament. However we look at it, it is not a good time for our nation at all.The corruption allegation is not good for our country and our democracy,\u201d said Mr. Draman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur parliament should not take a protective stand but rather deal with the issue as it is,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 49 updated by: 45 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General News of Tuesday, 31 January 2017 Source: Starrfmonline.com 2017-01-31 Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu The chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu has described bribery allegations leveled against him by a member of the committee, Mahama Ayariga as \u201ccolossal untruth.\u201d He thus requested the speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ayariga\u2019s bribery claim \u201ccolossal untruth\u201d - Appointments Committee Chairman - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/01\/31\/ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Ayariga\u2019s bribery claim \u201ccolossal untruth\u201d - Appointments Committee Chairman - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"General News of Tuesday, 31 January 2017 Source: Starrfmonline.com 2017-01-31 Chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu The chairman of Parliament\u2019s Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu has described bribery allegations leveled against him by a member of the committee, Mahama Ayariga as \u201ccolossal untruth.\u201d He thus requested the speaker of Parliament, Mike Oquaye to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/81296028.295.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/31\\\/ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2017\\\/01\\\/31\\\/ayarigas-bribery-claim-colossal-untruth-appointments-committee-chairman\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ayariga\u2019s bribery claim \u201ccolossal untruth\u201d &#8211; 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