According to recently published information in a book, the Jubilee House Chief of Staff’s office has been funding the Appointments Committee of Parliament in order to speed up the confirmation of ministerial appointments.
Investigative journalist Manasseh Azuri Awuni asserts in his book The President Ghana Never Got that the practice of financial inducement is not exclusive to the current administration, but has continued under several other administrations.
According to the book, a long-standing practice involves the Chief of Staff periodically sending money to members of the Appointment Committee during the vetting of ministerial nominees. This practice reportedly began under the Atta Mills presidency and has continued into the current administration.
Mahama Ayariga and some National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs previously alleged that Boakye Agyarko, a former ministerial nominee, had attempted to influence the committee with money, a claim which was strongly denied by committee members. Muntaka Mubarak, a prominent figure in the committee, refuted these allegations, stating that no cash had been received from Agyarko. Instead, he claimed that any cash received by the committee came from the Jubilee House as part of a broader practice.
Mr. Muntaka upheld his stance, stating that it was false and that neither he nor Joseph Osei-Owusu had met Boakye Agyarko prior to the allegation, in response to Mahama Ayariga and certain NDC MPs’ claims that the Appointments Committee had received money from Boakye Agyarko. He was adamant that Boakye Agyarko had not given him any money of that kind.
The book stated that: “I’m surprised that Muntaka was mentioned in this allegation as having received money from me to share with his members;” Joseph Osei-Owusu said. “Muntaka was stoutly against Agyarko.”
If you remember, Agyarko’s consideration was delayed because Muntaka insisted that Agyarko had alleged that John Mahama was corrupt and that he must prove it. When we did the report, we delayed Agyarko’s and Osafo-Maafo’s for a while.”
Muntaka however mentioned that the only cash that came to the Appointments Committee was from the Jubilee House, the Office of the President. When I asked who had sent the money and what it was meant for, Muntaka said it had been a longstanding practice that during the vetting of ministerial nominees, the Chief of Staff would periodically send money to members of the Appointments Committee. That cash usually came at the end of the week, and members of the Appointments Committee shared it.“
Joseph Osei-Owusu, the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chair of the Appointments Committee since 2017, acknowledged that the Chief of Staff does in fact give money, but he denied any role in enabling applicants to make payments.
According to the book, Mr. Osei-Owusu clarified that while it was widely believed that money influenced committee decisions, he had emphasised that any transactions of this nature should take place directly between committee members and nominees.
“When I asked the 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu, about the money from the Chief of Staff to the committee, he confirmed it. Mr. Osei-Owusu has chaired the Appointments Committee of Parliament since 2017. He entered Parliament during the Mills presidency and had since been on the Appointments Committee. He said the perception of paying money to committee members was so rife that ministerial nominees often approached him, offering to pay money.”
“Before the (2017) vetting started, I discussed with the Majority Leader that I could not take money on behalf of the members, so if a nominee wanted to give money to anybody, he should deal directly with that person. But because of that perception, some of the nominees came to me and said, Mr. Speaker, is there something we should do?’ When I said no, they said, ‘Are you sure? It’s me o, you can trust me. We want to be generous to the committee.” He told the nominees, “Whoever you want to be generous to, deal with the person.”
He said he was surprised that after refusing to mediate payments from ministerial nominees to committee members, he stood accused of receiving money from Agyarko and giving it to Muntaka to be paid to influence the NDC members to pass the nominee.
He however admitted making intermittent calls to the Chief of Staff when members of the Appointment Committee approached him with demands for “motivation”.