Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu has reiterated his claim that Boakye Agyarko, energy minister, bribed members of the appointments committee of parliament to confirm his nomination.
“This is the truth and God is my witness. I will not bare false witness. Remember in the Bible that the 10 commandments speak against this. There is a grave sanction for you if you are a Christian and you bear false witness. I wouldn’t tell a lie on somebodyâ€, he told Accra-based Radio Gold.
Ablakwa's comments come as the Joe Ghartey committee set up by the parliamentary leadership to investigate the claim prepares to begin sitting on February 15.
He said his testimony on the mater will not change when he appears before the committee.
"We are not changing our position. Honourable Boakye Agyarko sought to bribe us when he was having difficulties with his approval.
"We received envelopes containing GHS3000 each. We met and decided at a meeting chaired by our leader, Hon Haruna Iddrisu, whom I have a lot of respect for, great leader… he agreed with all of us that let us all return the money and we all returned the envelopes," he said.
Ablakwa said they rejected the money because their job in parliament was not to receive bribes from ministerial nominees.
"We heard where the money was coming from and we did our own checks and got confirmation so we decided to return it. We are not in parliament to receive any nominee’s money. Our constituents didn’t send us to parliament to go and receive bribes from nominees."