A leading member of pressure group, OccupyGhana, Sydney Casely-Hayford has described as intellectual dishonesty an apology rendered by the Member of Parliament for the Bawku Central Constituency, Mahama Ayariga, the man at the centre of the bribery allegations in Parliament.
According to Casely-Hayford, Mr. Ayariga’s apology should not be accepted because his comments are deemed rude to the Speaker of Parliament and entire members of the House.
“What Ayariga did in Parliament despite the pre-qualification of what he said in terms of theterms of reference is actually a rude comment back to the Speaker and to the House and it should not be accepted,” he added.
The Bawku Central MP has been recommendedfor contempt charges for making unsubstantiated bribery allegations against Members of the Appointments Committee and the Minister of Energy, Boakye Agyarko.
The Joe Ghartey committee which investigated the matter recommended that Mr. Ayariga be allowed to apologise for his allegations which were deemed derogatory to the image of Parliament.
Although he disagreed with the recommendations, Mr. Ayariga while speaking on the Floor of Parliament on Thursday said: “Mr. Speaker, if you say I should apologize, I have apologized.”
He has subsequently been rebuked for the apology which some believe was not genuine.
Speaking on Citi FM’s news analysis programme, The Big Issue on Saturday, Casely-Hayford who is also a financial analyst and a social commentator further argued that Mr. Ayariga was not remorseful hence his apology should be rejected.
“If Ayariga is asked to apologise to Bawku Naba, he will not stand there and say if you say I must apologise then I apologize. Under no circumstance would he say that, never.”
He explained that if Mr. Ayariga thought the had exceeded its mandate during its investigation, was to petition the Speaker of Parliament.
” If the committee has been set up and you think it has exceeded its mandate, on the floor of parliament, you had the opportunity to make that statement. You can even write to the Speaker and say you disagree with the findings. But prior to that you can purge yourself of contempt by rendering the apology and you must render a true and proper apology. What he did was not true and proper. What he did was at best intellectual dishonesty,” Casely-Hayford argued.
Ayariga to apologize again to Parliament
In a related development, Citi News understands that Mahama Ayariga has written an apology letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Michael Oquaye, apologizing for his conduct.
In the supposed apology statement, Mr. Ayariga apologized to Energy Minister, Boakye, Agyarko, for his comments which sought to link him to his allegation of bribery in Parliament.
He’s also apologized to the Speaker, and the entire leadership of Parliament.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)