Speaker's verdict will inform my next line of action – Ayariga

Member of Parliament (MP) for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has stated that the verdict by Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye will inform his next move in relation to the Bribery allegation.

Per Primenewsghana’s earlier report, the five-member ad-hoc Parliamentary committee which was set up to investigate allegations by Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga that Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko had attempted to bribe his way through vetting found Mr Ayariga in contempt of Parliament.

In a 56-page report, the committee said it “came to the firm conclusion that Mr Mahama Ayariga is in contempt of parliament on the strength of Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution, section 32 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (Act 300) and Orders 28 and 30 (2) of the Standing Orders of Parliament”.

The Ghartey Committee has, thus, recommended that having established a case of contempt against Mr Ayariga as well as having examined the sanctions regime available, recommends to the house the following:

1. That the Hon member for Bawku Central Mr Mahama Ayariga, be reprimanded by the Rt Hon Speaker in accordance with section 35 of the Parliament Act, 1965 (300)

2. That Mr Mahama Ayariga render an unqualified apology to the House, purging himself of contempt.

However, in an interview on Citi FM’s current affairs show, The Big Issue, on Saturday April 1, 2017;

Mr Ayariga said his assertions “are facts, if somebody evaluates it and says he does not believe it that is his conclusion based on his analysis, but the fact that you have lived it and said it on oath, it should stand”.

He continued: “You can say that ‘Ayariga we don’t believe you, so you are lying,’ but to say Ayariga ‘come and say that what you said you now say you didn’t say it, you swore an oath’ and when you swear an oath and come back to say no you didn’t say it, is that not perjury?

“The first thing is to comply with the decision of the house and then you institute legal challenges to those decisions so that you state to a court your grounds and then the court will now examine all the other areas of law and then come to a conclusion… There are very interesting legal dynamics.”