
Dr. Rasheed Draman, the Executive Director for the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), has said the summon of Oliver Barker-Vomawor to Parliament is an opportunity for the House to come clean about bribery allegations leveled against its members.
Citing incidents of bribery allegations that came up in the 7th Parliament, Dr. Draman said the House couldn’t do much to clear itself at the time, making people harbour the suspicions that Parliament is corrupt.
His comments come on the back of the invitation by Parliament for the convenor of FixTheCountry and DemocracyHub, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, to appear before the House to substantiate some bribery claims he made against the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
Barker-Vormawor had said in a post on his Facebook over the weekend that, members on the Committee have been demanding monies from nominees before vetting and approving them.
He asked that the Chairman of the Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, who is the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, appear before the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) committee to answer questions about the conduct of members of his committee.
Prior to the commencement of the vetting of the Minister-designate for Defence Tuesday, January 28, 2025, Mr. Ahiafor denied such claims adding that he was ready to appear before the ORAL as being demanded.
After vehemently denying the allegations, he summoned the lawyer and social activist to appear before the vetting committee to prove his bribery allegations against members on the committee, specifically those on the Majority side.
Commenting on the issue on Ghana Tonight on TV3 Tuesday, January 28, the Executive Director of ACEP averred the invitation is an opportunity for Parliament to clear its name as it refused to do the previous years.
“The bribery allegations are not new. In the 7th Parliament, the case of Boakye Agyarko and all the controversies around the fact that some people took monies and so on.
“I think that was an opportunity for Parliament at that time to clear its name, and put, if there was anything like that happening, to put a stop to it. We didn’t see very much of it and now this issue has resurfaced.
“We don’t know what evidence the lawyer has and he is looking very much forward to meeting the committee which seems to suggest that he has some evidence. This I believe now, is an opportunity for Parliament to make sure that they come clean about these,” he advised.
Many believe it is time for Parliament to exonerate itself from these bribery allegations especially when members of then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), kicked against the appointment of ministerial nominees in the erstwhile Akufo-Addo administration but yet got approved by members of both caucuses after their vetting.
This raised questions about the credibility of the representation on the committee, with many alleging that money might have exchanged hands to warrant the approval of such nominees, including the then Finance Minister, Kenneth Nana Yaw Ofori-Atta, a brother to the then President who was asked to be kicked out by members of his own party just two years into his reappointment in Akufo-Addo’s second term.
Appointments Committee of Parliament summons Barker-Vormawor to substantiate ‘bribery’ claims