INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO PROBE MPS

…Over bribery allegation

Government is to institute an independent Commission of Enquiry into the bribery allegation levelled against then majority NPP MP’s during the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone International by Hon. P.C. Appiah Ofori, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa Constituency in the Central Region.

The crusading MP has accused his colleague NPP MPs, of being paid $5000 each and whipped in line to vote en-bloc for the sale of Ghana Telecom to the United Kingdom based telecomm giant, Vodafone.

With the furore generated in the wake of the Odoben MP’s allegation, a credible Government source has hinted TODAY that “very soon Cabinet will set up a Commission of highly professional Ghanaians of impeccable integrity to investigate the allegation”.

What might delay the inauguration of the Commission, the source disclosed, is the impending visit of the charismatic United States President, Barack Hussein Obama to Ghana, late this week. Yet the source revealed that “immediately after the Obama visit, Government will set up the Commission, sometime early next week to deal decisively with the bribery allegation”.

The Government source further indicated that, aside the PC Appiah Ofori charge, fellas picked by the presidency suggest that some other MPs who obviously were not happy about the kind of lobbying and manoeuvrings that preceded the signing of the Vodafone agreement have declared their intention to wilfully appear before the Commission’s sitting.

The Commission, the source said, “will be expected to question and investigate actions of certain ranking MPs of the Communication Committee of Parliament at the time and other MPs who virtually kicked against the sale of the former Ghanaian giant public telecommunication industry about the GT sale agreement”.

Although the source was reticent about revealing the names of the said MPs, some of who have lost their seats in Parliament, TODAY’s independent findings have established that the then Chairman of the Communication Committee of Parliament, Hon. Kojo Armah is expected to appear before the Commission to help with the investigations and findings.

Another MP who was very influential in the sale agreement, Hon. Ossei Aidoo, then Majority leader and former MP for Tema East, the paper’s information shows, will also be hauled before the Commission to find out from him what he knew about the sale agreement and whether he mounted perpetual surveillance on his colleague NPP MPs during the secret balloting that determined the sale of Ghana Telecom to Vodafone UK.

TODAY discovered that the Commission will find out from Hon. Ossei Aidoo whether it was true that he personally gagged Hon. PC Appiah Ofori from speaking on the sale agreement on the floor of Parliament and what might have influenced that action. P.C. Appiah Ofori himself will be expecting to appear before the Commission to help it unravel the truth or otherwise of his allegation.

Hon. Abraham Aidoo however descended heavily on the Asikuma Odobeng-Brakwa MP and rubbished his allegations that then majority MPs from the NPP side of Parliament took a bribe of US$5,000 each in order to vote for the sale of GT to Vodafone UK and decried the actions of PC Appiah-Ofori, denying that nothing of that sort happened as far as he was concerned.

“He who alleges must prove, so if PC Appiah-Ofori is saying that we took monies and voted for the sale of GT then he should also be prepared to prove that indeed majority members who moved the motion took money,” he furiously stated. Hon. Abraham Osei-Aidoo spoke to this paper in a telephone interview in Accra yesterday.

He noted that no body was lured with money as bait to throw their weight behind the motion that GT be sold to Vodafone UK.

“Any body who voted for the motion did that on his or her own discretion so what is PC Appiah-Ofori talking about here,” Hon. Abraham Osei-Aidoo queried, adding that, “it is an outrageous allegation by PC.”

Touching on the decision of some minority Members of Parliament to battle Hon. PC Appiah-Ofori in court, on the allegations levelled against them, he said he supports them since these allegations could go a long way to tarnish their reputations if not dealt with properly by a competent court of jurisdiction.

“I support their decision to take legal action against PC because these allegations need to be cleared; and I think the best place to do that is the court of law,” Hon. Abraham Osei-Aidoo maintained.

On why PC Appiah-Ofori was not allowed to speak on the floor of parliament about the sale of GT when the motion was moved, he said there were times that Parliament was ahead of the debate and PC’s submissions seemed to be drawing proceedings back and was not a deliberate attempt to keep him tight-lipped.

PC Appiah-Ofori later on reiterated to a section of the media this week that, as an anti-corruption crusader, he still stand by what he has said so far and would never withdraw his words that majority members took US$5,000 each and voted for the sale of GT to Vodafone UK.

On the part of Hon. Kojo Armah, the Commission is expected to find out from him what he knew about the sale agreement and the specific role that he played in the transaction. He was one of the leading MPs who advocated strongly for the sale of Ghana Telecom raising questions about his allegiance to his party the CPP which strongly defied the sale of Ghana telecomm.

The CPP is on record as one of the parties that strongly kicked against the sale of Ghana Telecom, resulting in a court action by some leading CPP stalwarts like Professor Agyemang Badu Akosa, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Mr. Kosi Dedey, Mr. Bright Akwettey, Miss Ayarna and others against the Ghana government for selling the prized telecomm company.

TODAY’s sorties have also discovered that the former MP for Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) Constituency, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom is likely to be invited to the Commission. The Commission, the paper found out, is to find out from the former CPP Presidential Candidate why he walked out of the debate preceding the signing agreement and whether apart from his explanation that he walked out because of the partisan posture taken by MPs of the two leading parties in the sale agreement, there were other considerations that might have influenced his decision.

Another CPP MP likely to be hauled before the Commission is the former deputy of Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Freddy W. Blay, is also on record to have vouched for the sale of Ghana Telecom. His action, like that of Hon. Kojo Armah was in contrast with the hard-line no-sale stance of his party, the CPP. And the Commission will be finding out from him why he favoured the sale of Ghana Telecom when his party’s position was against the sale of GT.

Source: Today Newspaper