The Member of Parliament for the Bawku Central constituency, Mahama Ayariga says the approval of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s new ministerial nominees by Parliament may be due to the extensive lobbying they did.

“The numbers that voted to approve the nominees shocked me, but I can tell you that the nominees lobbied very hard, and it is one of the reasons that informed the [NDC] party to issue a statement to the Minority not to approve the nominees because the party found out that the Minority MPs were not finding it easy to resist the lobbying,” he said.

The approval of the six new ministers sparked wide mistrust and accusations among the Minority Caucus and their leaders.

There were even claims that some of the NDC MPs exchanged their votes for money but Mr. Ayariga said he is not aware that any legislator engaged in such an act.

It wasn’t entirely money because I heard people say some members took money from the nominees, but I don’t have evidence that people took money, and so I am careful about saying things like that. But I know that the nominees lobbied very hard and appealed to the relationships that they have with people in the Chamber.”

He made the remark on The Point of View on Citi TV on Monday.