Politics of Tuesday, 30 April 2019
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2019-04-30
NPP Communications Director, Yaw Buabeng Asamoah
The Communications Director of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has urged the police to commence investigations into the conduct of resigned Minister, Rockson Bukari.
Yaw Buabeng Asamoah said the President has done his part by accepting Mr Bukari’s resignation but the state security apparatus must now take steps to deal with the alleged acts of corruption he was involved in.
“Certainly, if there is anything actionable by way of intent, that ought not to be stopped. It is part of the process where we all realise that we are not above the law and we should be responsible for our actions,” he told Joy News.
Minister of State at the Office of the President, Rockson Bukari, resigned his post on Monday after reports of his alleged involvement in an attempt to bribe a journalist.
Mr. Bukari has been heard on a leaked tape attempting to bribe the Starr FM journalist, Edward Adeti, to kill a story against a judge and a Chinese mining firm when he was Upper East Regional Minister.
He denied the bribery allegation in a statement on Sunday, insisting he was only intervening.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Minister’s approach by way of pleading with Edeti is typical with his peace-making intervention approach to situations, and in this case, sought to avoid what he was informed was a misjudgment sought to be projected to hurt the reputation of a retiring judge in the region he had superintended as minister,” a statement from his office said.
The journalist also reacted to the Minister’s statement and called for his head.
Subsequently, he put in his resignation which was accepted by the President but Mr Buabeng Asamoah says society for a long time, the notion of discipline in public office “has gone to the dogs.”
”There is a lot of impunity where people across the board not only political leaders but generally, where people do what they like. The law is observed only in the breach and when it bites we all troop to go and encourage the police not to do anything,” he said.
According to the Adenta MP, gone were the days when politicians do as they please, thinking they will be covered by their government in power, stating that people will face the consequences of their actions.
He said with the resignation letter, the police should be up and doing by initiating investigations if they believe that something untoward happened.
“There are two levels; the ethical level, where he has resigned and that is commendable. Then there is the actionable level; it depends on whether there is criminality in the tape and they can find a provision in the criminal code to deal with,” he said.
