Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has denied he confessed to the chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Joe Osei-Owusu, that the allegation of bribery against the Committee was a frame-up.
Describing the claim by Mr Osei-Owusu as “malicious and cancerous fabrication”, Mr Ablakwa vowed to go all out to let the truth in the bribery allegation against the Committee members prevail.
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga alleged last month that the Minister of Energy Boakye Agyarko attempted to bribe some members of the Appointments Committee to approve his nomination after a rancorous vetting.
The allegation was supported by two MPs – Okudzeto Ablakwa and MP for Tamale North Alhassan Suhuyini -, but Mr Joe Osei Owusu and Minority Chief Whip Muntaka Mohammed who were mentioned in the bribery allegation have flatly denied it.
It was suggested that Mr. Osei Owusu who is also the First Deputy Speaker, was used as the conduit by Mr. Agyarko to allegedly bribe some members on the committee, who are mainly from the Minority side in Parliament with 3000 cedis each.
But taking his turn Wednesday at a committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament to investigate the case, Mr Osei-Owusu claimed he failed to press for proof or investigate the allegation because Mr Ablakwa told him the allegation was a frame-up.
According to him, the North Tongu MP said the Minority MPs were only trying to equalize the corruption allegations made by Mr Boakye Agyarko against former President John Mahama, saying Mr Ablakwa “confessed that they put that (allegation) out as equalization”.
But in a sharp response Wednesday evening, Mr Ablakwa said “the so-called confession attributed to me by Hon. Joe Osei-Owusu is nothing but a desperate, malicious and cancerous fabrication which would not be allowed to fester”.
Mr Ablakwa said the latest claim by Mr Osei-Owusu demonstrates his inconsistency with regards to the bribery allegation because the last time the Chairman made the same allegation, “he hanged it around the neck of Mahama Ayariga.
“Let no one doubt my resolve and the extent I am willing to go to vindicate the truth in this matter,” he concluded.
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