Anti-Corruption Crusader with the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Mr Vitus Azeem has urged the Chief Justice to investigate further the corruption allegations made by the Member of Parliament for Asawase, Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak-Muntaka against a Supreme Court Judge.
Mr Azeem was of the belief that after investigating the matter, the names that have popped up will either be found guilty or exonerated for the MP to face the consequences of his action.
Speaking in an interview on Atinka TV’s Morning Show with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu, he said if the matter is not investigated, people will speculate and it will become a dent on the image of the individuals whose names have popped up in the matter.
Background
Mr Muntaka made allegations that some Supreme Court Judges persuaded some of his colleagues to vote for a particular candidate to win the Speakership of Parliament.
But after few weeks, the MP has come out to apologise, saying that the allegation he made in an interview on January 10, 2021 was based on a report from his trusted colleague which was that she had been approached by a Justice of the Supreme Court seeking to entice her to vote for a particular candidate during the contest for Speakership of Parliament.
Commenting on the issue, Mr Azeem said Muntaka’s apology is not satisfactory without admitting that he lied, adding that he only apologised to the Supreme Court and not the indivduals involved.
In the apology letter, Muntaka said, “I therefore wish to respectfully retract same and apologise for the harm done to the image and reputation of my Lord Justices of the Supreme Court and the Judiciary as a whole.”
But, Mr Azeem again said, “It is even possible that a name or some names have come out so it should be investigated so that the names of those individuals is exonerated. The best approach is to investigate and have somebody guilty or exonerated notwithstanding the apology.”
He added that,”If it is investigated and the fellow has no basis for saying that and he is sanctioned or asked to formally apologise, it will scare others from doing that in future. If you don’t do that similar thing can happen in the future.”
Mr Azeem also called on parliament to further investigate the matter since it involves parliamentarians.
“We expect the judiciary to go further with this. It also involve parliamentarians and so parliament should also look into it,” he said.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori