MPs accused of taking bribes from lobbyists

Members of Tender Boards, either in Parliament or at the District level, take bribe from lobbyists before approving their tenders. Madam Rosemary Stella Ankomah, former Member of Parliament for Wassa Mpohor, made this disclosure at a forum at Ho in the Volta Region.

She stated that corruption was high within committees of Parliament and Tender Boards of the district assemblies to the extent that “being a member of a committee or a tender board is highly sought for.” Madam Ankomah was speaking at a Training of Trainers Workshop for district assembly members and aspirants from the Christian Mothers’ Association, a Catholic Non-Governmental Organization.

Under the theme, ‘Women in decision-making-effective contribution to development’, the four-day workshop was organized by Konrad Adrenauer Foundation (KAF) for 40 participants drawn from Catholic dioceses in Jasikan, Keta and Akatsi Districts in the Volta region, Koforidua in the Eastern Region, Greater Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region.

Madam Ankomah did not mince words when she admitted that she was bribed on several occasions as a member of Parliamentary Select Committee (which she refused to disclose) and a member of the District Assembly Tender Board by lobbyists who wanted their deals to go through.

She said that politics had become so highly competitive with elements of corruption and violence, that it had become unattractive to women. She said that there was the need to sensitize and empower them through extensive education to take part in public life in all spheres of endeavour.

Madam Ankomah pointed out that power of inequalities, disadvantages and constraints were reproduced in modern political, economic and social realms where women were discriminated against and under-represented in public life. She charged Christian women not to be deterred by the rot and enter public life to change the dirty game associated with politics by imparting Christian values in the work of Parliament and district assemblies.

In his remarks, Most Reverend Francis Lodonu, Catholic Bishop of the Ho diocese, challenged Christian women to embark on collaborative partnership and alliances with other women groups to fight the social canker of corruption, which had eaten deep into the fibre of the Ghanaian society.

He noted that the swelling of numbers of women in Parliament and district assemblies would not solve the situation but through effective collaborative effort.