Corruption fight: Parliament powerful during my reign – Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo says it is a remarkable feat under his regime that the legislature is no more conducting business in a repressive climate as it prevailed in the previous NDC government.

“…In the years before every effort to get government to crank up the parliamentary machinery to investigate SUBAH, GYEEDA, this that that, all sound flat. In some cases, Mr. Speaker didn’t even allow those motions to hit the floor, let alone to be debated.

I think there is a big improvement on that atmosphere and the way we see some of these things are now being handled, and I’m satisfied with it. I don’t have any difficulty,” Mr. Akufo-Addo told a cross-section of Journalists during his second edition of the Media Encounter Wednesday.

A bipartisan probe has been instituted into allegations that the presidency has been used for profiteering.

This is the second time parliamentary bi-partisan probes have occurred under the current regime. The first probe was into bribery allegations leveled by some minority NDC MPs who claimed a ministerial nominee, Boakye Agarko, had paid monies to have his nomination approved after a contentious vetting process.

Touching on the cash-for-seat scandal, Mr. Akufo-Addo said he’s happy the proceedings are being televised to clear the suspicion that the government has something to hide from the Ghanaian public.

Mr. Akufo-Addo intimated that although there is a parliamentary inquiry into the matter, it doesn’t take away his conviction that nothing untoward took place in the issue being investigated.

President Nana Akufo-Addo cleared the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen of any wrongdoing in the matter before a public inquiry was initiated into the allegations.