Anti-corruption advocate Vitus Azeem has criticized the rationale provided by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for discontinuing the investigation into the alleged bribery of certain Majority MPs, deeming it unacceptable.
On December 28, 2023, Special Prosecutor Kissi Agyebeng disclosed in a report that his office could not pursue the alleged case of a businessman attempting to bribe legislators to prevent them from impeaching Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.
Agyebeng stated that the responses from Asante Akim MP Andy Appiah-Kubi, the accuser crucial to resolving the case, and the unidentified businessman seemed “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.”
Vitus Azeem disagreed with this explanation, asserting that the OSP could have explored alternative avenues if it genuinely aimed to uncover the truth.
During an appearance on Joy FM’s Newsnite, Azeem remarked, “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 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.
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