The Parliament of Ghana has the huge task of enacting laws to govern the country and also holding the executive arm of government in check.

The 1992 Constitution of Ghana not only gives Parliament the power to approve ministerial and other appointments made by the head of the executive, but it also gives the legislature the power to check the expenditure of the government.

In fact, the executive cannot spend public funds unless estimates and national budgets are presented to and approved by Parliament, and all contractual agreements entered into by the executive must be either ratified or approved by the House.

However, Parliament has on several occasions been accused of taking bribes in the performance of its duty to hold the executive in check, as well as, ensuring that every agreement the government signs is in the interest of the people of Ghana.

The controversy surrounding the AKSA power deal, following the conviction of the former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery, Asante Berko, in the United States for bribing Ghanaian politicians, including legislators, has brought up past allegations of bribery that have never been resolved, even though investigations were opened into them.

2017 Appointments Committee bribery scandal:

In January 2017, the current Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, alleged that each member of the Appointments Committee of Parliament (ACP) was given a GH¢3,000 bribe by the then Minister-designate for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, to facilitate his vetting.


Mahama Ayariga

According to a report by graphic.com.gh, the Bawku Central MP, in a radio interview in 2017, alleged that Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak had given GH¢3,000 to each minority member on the ACP.

Ayariga is reported to have said that, following rumours that the money was given by Agyarko, who was being vetted for the position of Minister of Energy, he confronted Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak over the source.

According to him, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak told him that it was Osei-Owusu who had given the money to him, with the explanation that it was from Agyarko.

He added that he, together with his fellow Minority MPs, returned the money because they had initially thought it was a sitting allowance.

Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak denied the allegation. A five-member committee was instituted to investigate the matter.



2022 Majority Caucus attempted bribery allegation:

Again in 2022, members of the Majority Caucus of Parliament were accused of being involved in an attempted bribery by an unknown businessman.

The businessman allegedly tried to bribe some members of the Caucus who were demanding that the then President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, remove the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The attempted bribery was acknowledged by some New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators, but they did not disclose the name of the businessman.


Former Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) opened an investigation into the matter in 2023.

The OSP subsequently stated that the investigation had been concluded and closed.

Its findings said the businessman had indeed attempted to offer money, but the contacted MPs apparently rejected it.

The office also did not disclose the identity of the businessman who tried to induce the legislators.

Adu-Boahene GH¢960K ‘allowances’ to MPs to pass NSB Act:

In 2025, the former Director of the National Signals Bureau (NSB), Kwabena Adu-Boahene, who is under investigation for misappropriating GH¢49 million of funds belonging to the bureau, alleged that GH¢960,000 (approximately $160,000) of the money was used to pay allowances to members of Parliament's Defence and Interior Committee to facilitate the passage of the National Signals Bureau Act (2020).

In a letter written from EOCO custody, where he is currently on remand, Adu-Boahene provided a summary of "Special Operations Expenditure" during the sensitive transition period after the 2024 general elections.


Kwabena Adu-Boahene

The document listed the GH¢960,000 payment as part of expenditures for the 2020/2021 fiscal year, specifically for the enactment of the NSB Act 2020.

Although Adu-Boahene is currently being prosecuted, not much has been said about the money allegedly given to the MPs for the passage of the bill.

Adu-Boahene alleges GH¢960K out of GH¢49m was paid to MPs as allowances to pass NSB Act

The lingering question is whether entities that appear before committees of the House are required to pay allowances to the members of the committee or whether it is the responsibility of Parliament to pay these allowances.

AKSA bribery scandal:

The most recent bribery allegation against a Member of Parliament of Ghana is that of the AKSA power deal.

A statement by the United States (US) State Department, which announced the conviction of former Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Asante Berko, over paying bribes of over $1 million to officials of the government of Ghana from 2015 to 2016, indicated that members of the Energy Committee were given a bribe of $46,000 to see the deal between Ghana and AKSA Energy through.


Asante Berko

Former Special Prosecutor Martin Amidu, who has said that the matter was investigated during his tenure, has said that there should be a report on the Ghanaians implicated in the matter.

Former Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa, Kobina Tahir Hammond (KT Hammond), was the Ranking Member of the Energy Committee in 2015.

Reacting to this claim in an interview on Citi News on August 10, 2026, Hammond indicated that he and the members of the committee could not be induced with such an amount of money.

"For the sake of all that is making the rounds, people are taking one million..., and then the suggestion is that KT Hammond, and his [committee] we took about, $500 [each], because the money is supposed to be $30,000. Then you hear $10,000 somewhere, then some $6,000; they round it up to $46,000," he said.

"We had 18 people in Parliament (Members on the Energy Committee), and then the Secretariat and all of that; are they suggesting we shared that and each person got about $500 or $1,000 or something?" he asked.

"Is KT Hammond that bloody cheap? Is that it?" he asked.

Adu-Boahene alleges GH¢960K out of GH¢49m was paid to MPs as allowances to pass NSB Act

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