Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has described as unsatisfactory the report by the Joe Ghartey Committee on the bribery scandal which hit Parliament a couple of months ago.
The Joe Ghartey Committee's report concluded that Hon Mahama Ayariga's bribery allegations against the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, were unfounded and baseless.
The report, which was laid before Parliament on Wednesday, recommended that Mr. Ayariga be reprimanded by the Speaker of the House in accordance with Section 35 of the Parliament Act 1965 (Act 300).
The report recommended that Mr. Ayariga apologizes to the House to purge him of contempt.
Addressing the issue on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Mr. Pratt was dissatisfied with the Committee's work, in that he believes they hurriedly probed the case.
According to him, the Committee has not convinced Ghanaians and believes their work sends everyone back to "square one", because nothing has been established yet about the bribery scandal.
He asked the Committee if per their findings, they came across any CCTV footage that was claimed by MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to show some persons exchanging monies in Parliament.
To him, the footage should be able to expose those complicit in the scandal.
He wondered why the Committee failed to show the CCTV footage to the public to ascertain the truth in the case.
Although the Committee's report indicated that they looked at the footage but for security reasons couldn't show it publicly, they however forwarded transcripts of the evidence they found on the footage to the Speaker of Parliament.
But the Senior Journalist insisted that the committee could have done a better job by being transparent with the general public.
“Nobody is asking for the workings of the security of Parliament. Nobody is asking for that. If they put the technicalities of how the CCTV operates and so on, it will compromise (security). All people want to see is the footage. Was money handed over on camera or was money not handed over as shown on camera?”
He further questioned the Committee on why it failed to probe other witnesses to the case, referring to Hon. Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, Sampson Ahi and Alhassan Suhuyini - all members of Parliament.
Mr. Pratt also noted that the Committee had indicated in its report that it used strict standards in criminal cases as part of its work to find the truth but queried why they refused to allow room from examinations-in-Chief and cross examinations.
To him, the Committee's work wasn't satisfactory because "the Committee told us that they’re in a hurry and because they’re in a haste to finish the case, they’re not going to call witnesses. There will be no cross examinations and Examinations-In-Chief. So, they should bring written memorandum....As at the time the Committee was asking for a written memorandum, the reason was haste.
“If you’re using strict standards in criminal cases, written memorandum is not enough because you need to have Examinations-In-Chief and you need to have cross examinations.”
He also sought answers on how the Committee could establish contempt of Parliament against Hon. Ayariga when its setup was to be fact-finding one.
In his view, it would have been appropriate if the verdict of contempt was established by the Privileges Committee of the House.
"How come that a fact-finding committee made a recommendation that Mahama Ayariga has committed contempt of Parliament and also suggested punitive action against him? How is that possible?” he quizzed.
Background
Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, who doubles as a member of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee (PAC), was heard on an Accra-based radio station 'Radio Gold' accusing the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko for allegedly offering the PAC bribes.
He alleged that the Energy Minister perhaps wanted to induce them with money, hence giving the Parliamentarians GHC 30000 each after his vetting before the Committee.
He further cited the Chairman of the PAC, Joe Osei-Owusu and Minority Chief Whip Mubarak Muntaka, also a member on the Committee, of serving as a conduit for the bribe offering.
Though the Minority Chief Whip and PAC Chairman both denied the allegations, the MP together with other Parliamentarians - Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Sampson Ahi, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye - attested to the allegation.
Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
The findings was merely arrived at to protect parliament. Ayariga was used as a scape goatt by the committe to save the image of parliament.
Excellent analysis.
I suspect that Ayariga himself knew about the findings of the committee before it was presented in parliament. This is because it has been established that before the report was read all stakeholders in the matter as well as the leaders had met and Ayariga was impressed to apologize. What Ayariga did was to swerve them, by punching wholes into the report and subsequently reluctantly apologizing. Ayariga acted the way every smart lawyer would do. In this case, the public cannot wholeheartedly accept the report as genuine, and also people would give Ayariga the benefit of the doubt, that probably the bribery really happened. I would have done the same thing Ayariga did. As it stands, he still have some credibility, because he has stood his ground and indirectly rejected the report, leaving the public to be the real judges. Mr Pratt is certainly spot on.
Pratt is mentally ill.
kwesi pratt is a foooooooooooooooooooooool
infact this old man is very annoying.
Agya momma yenka na Kwesi Pratt ho ye ahi paa
LAW HAS MADE EVERYBODY THINK THAT HE OR SHE IS RIGHT IN EVERY ARGUMENT. KWASI PRATT DOES WHAT YOU ARE SAYING MAKE SENSE?, AS A SENIOR JOURNALIST AS EVERYONE LOOK AT WHY ARE EASY IN SELLING YOUR CONSCIENCE,IN ANY CASE WHY AYARIGA ALSO DIDN'T SHOW TO GHANAIANS THOSE FOOTAGE YOU CLAIMED HE HAD, WE HAVE SO MANY IMPORTANT ISSUES TO TALK ABOUT AS A COUNTRY AND HERE WE ARE KWESI PRATT GLORIFYING ATTITUDE AND MISBEHAVIOUR? NAAWAAAOOO GHANA FOR YOU.