Majority Leader in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, has dismissed allegations that members of the Appointments Committee demanded bribes from ministerial nominees in exchange for their approval.
Responding to claims made by lawyer and activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor, the Bawku Central MP said the committee has nothing to hide and has invited him to substantiate his allegations.
“I had wind of what he said, and then the chairman reached out. I said, call him, let him come. If he has anything and he can substantiate it, we need to deal with it openly and transparently,” Mr. Ayariga stated during an interview with the press on Tuesday, January 28.
He insisted that protecting one’s integrity is paramount, adding, “You will go very far if you are perceived to have integrity. Spending time to erase all doubts regarding your integrity is very important.”
Mr. Ayariga also shared a personal experience to highlight how external actors sometimes attempt to influence ministerial confirmations.
He recalled an encounter with a businessperson who wanted to mobilize funds to “help” a sector minister gets approved.
“I actually met somebody who operates in a sector, and the person said, ‘Oh, our minister, our sector minister, is being considered this week, so we want to go and help him.’ And I said, ‘Has the sector minister asked you to come and help him?’ He said, ‘No, no, we just want to come together and help him.’”
“I told the person; I don’t think there’s a need for you and people in your sector to be mobilizing money to help your minister because we won’t even accept it. So that is out there—you get the situation, right? A certain perception that, oh, maybe somebody in the private sector spoke, and he heard something.
“But if Barker-Vormawor has anything about money being handed over to Appointments Committee members, he should just come forward, and we’ll look into it.”
He reiterated the need to maintain credibility and transparency in governance.
“I encourage it—not just this instance, but any other instance—because we want to build institutions that have integrity, are credible, and that Ghanaians have trust and confidence in,” he said.
Mr. Ayariga also argued that, politically, there is no reason for ministerial nominees to pay bribes since the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) has a commanding majority in Parliament.
“NDC is in power. We have 184 members, and we have four other independent members. Two are actually NDC members, and the others have agreed to do business with us. We can approve anybody,” he stressed.
He further explained that unless a nominee faces a serious petition against their nomination, there is no obstacle to their approval.
“No nominee needs to give anybody any money because, as a party, you will be whipped in line to vote according to the party’s interest. There’s no way any nominee would need to pay. If there’s something fundamentally wrong with you, and it’s revealed through a petition, then we will go back to His Excellency and say, ‘Please, Excellency, we know your standards. This guy doesn’t meet your standards. Can you withdraw the nomination?’”
Mahama Ayariga dismissed any suggestion that nominees were desperate for approval. “Most of them are sitting Members of Parliament.
“Constitutionally, at the barest minimum, they are qualified to be ministers of state. The vetting provides an opportunity to convince Ghanaians that they are fit for purpose.
“Otherwise, there’s no single nominee there who has any challenge being successfully processed by Parliament. So, there is no need to give anybody anything,” he said.
He expressed confidence that no wrongdoing had taken place and was sceptical that any credible evidence of bribery would emerge.
“I have not seen it, so I would be surprised if anything comes up tomorrow,” he stated.
“I will be surprised. But we encourage anyone with information to come forward.”
