An anti-corruption crusader, Vitus Azeem says the reason given by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for discontinuing the investigation into the alleged bribery of some Majority MPs is unacceptable.
In a report on December 28, 2023, the Special Prosecutor, Kissi Agyebeng, stated that his office cannot probe the alleged case of a businessman trying to bribe the legislators to dissuade them from impeaching Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
The OSP added that the responses by Asante Akim MP, Andy Appiah-Kubi, the accuser and a vital key to resolving the case, and the unnamed businessman “appear to be rehearsed and well-choreographed to produce a joint and similar denial of the events so vividly captured by Mr. Appiah-Kubi in his interview with Joy FM.”
Mr Azeem believes the explanation was not good enough, as he thinks the OSP could have explored other alternatives if it truly wanted to get to the roots of the matter.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsnite, he said “I don’t think that the reasons are tenable. How did the 87 NPP MPs decide not to pursue the matter? That is one question you will be asking.”
“Why did they make those allegations which were unfounded, if they did not have a basis?
“Can’t the Office of the Special Prosecutor compel the people to give the evidence? Doesn’t he have the power to compel these people to give evidence? So based on that, I think that the reasons given by the Office of the Special Prosecutor are not tenable,” he added on Wednesday, January 3, 2024.
Background
It would be recalled that in October 2022, some New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentarians demanded the sacking of Ken Ofori-Atta as Finance Minister for alleged poor performance.
The MPs, numbering about 80, held a press conference to impress upon the President to relieve his cousin of the responsibility of managing the national purse or risk losing their support for government business going forward.
They also asked that the Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance, Charles Adu Boahen, be subjected to a similar fate.
It was addressed by the MP for Asante Akyem North, Andy Appiah-Kubi.
According to him, the call had been communicated to the Presidency through the leadership but to no avail.
“Notice is hereby served that until such persons as aforementioned are made to resign or removed from office, we members of the Majority caucus here in parliament will not participate in any business of government by or for the President [or] by any other minister,” he explained.
Later, in an interview on JoyNews PM Express, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonso revealed that an unnamed businessman visited Parliament House to mediate the impasse.
He explained that in the heat of the arguments in Parliament, the said businessman met some of the legislators.
“I’m told on authority that some businessman came here and tried to do something,” he told Evans Mensah.
The Suame MP insisted that it was meant to help persuade the members of the house against nudging the Minister out of office.
He further narrated that “he was repelled by the people and was told not to involve himself. So he went away.”
This assertion was confirmed by Mr. Andy Appiah-Kubi in a blow-by-blow narration of how the wealthy Ghanaian businessman attempted to influence the Majority Caucus to back off on their request.
The MP in an interview on Top Story, said the wealthy businessman on the day after the Press conference was held to demand Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta’s dismissal, requested to meet the 80 NPP MPs in Parliament.
