Despite being charged with contempt of Parliament and subsequently compelled to apologize for the bribery allegations he made against Members of the Appointments Committee and the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko, the Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has said he still stands by his claims.
Speaking on The Big Issue on Citi FM today [Saturday], Mr. Ayariga said he would not go back on the oath he swore when he testified to the allegations before the Joe Ghartey committee.
“I swore an oath and told what I went through… those are facts. If somebody evaluates and says that he doesn’t believe it, that is his conclusion based on his analysis. But the fact that you have lived through that and you said it under oath means it should stand.”
The Joe Ghartey committee concluded that, Mr. Ayariga fell foul of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, Section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament and thus recommended that the Bawku Central MP be made to apologize to Speaker of Parliament. Parliament voted to approve the committee’s report leading to an apology from Mr. Ayariga, but the MP cautioned that the House’s adoption of the report without any debate could have further legal implications.
“The decision of the House raises serious legal issues. If you say I should retract, but I swore an oath, would that now be perjury?” he questioned.
Parliament needed ‘additional wisdom’
Mr. Ayariga further hinted at some legal recourse after the Speaker gives his final ruling on the Joe Ghartey committee’s report and process, which he described as restrictive.
According to him, a debate on the report would have prevented any potential legal fallout in the matter.
“Maybe, the first thing you do is you comply with the decision of the House and then you institute legal challenges with those decisions so that you state to a court your grounds and the court will now examine all the other areas of law and then come to a conclusion.”
“That is why they should have allowed debate on the report, as discerning legal minds would have had an opportunity to draw attention to all these issues and that would have enriched the conclusion of the House when voting on the matter. But the restrictive process disabled the House from benefiting from additional wisdom in addition to the wisdom of the members of the committee,” Mr. Ayariga added.
My hands were tied – Ayariga on apology
Mr. Ayariga believes it should not matter whether his apology to the Speaker of Parliament after being charged with contempt by the Joe Ghartey committee was from his heart or not.
Defending the demeanour of his apology, he explained that his “hands were tied” because it became a decision that had been adopted by the House.
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