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Private legal practitioner and member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Lawyer Abraham Amaliba has said the procedure used in investigating the bribery allegations by the 5-member Joe Ghartey committee were not supposed to bring fair and accurate outcome.

“Without any cross examination from both sides how will the committee get to the bottom of the matter, are they magicians,” he asked Okay FM’s morning show host Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie. 

According to him he knew very well that there was no way the committee would have looked down on the image of parliament.

“But how can an accuser of a case be made to investigate his or her own offence committed. The matter should have been given to an independent body like Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate for a fair verdict,” he said.

Mr. Amaliba in a follow-up question on how he thinks the committee should have handled the case said, “The committee should have known better on how to proceed with the case in finding a befitting judgment for whoever will be at fault than wanting to create an impression of favouring Mahama Ayariga since he has never been involved in such a conduct in the house. That was not what we expected from them.”

He concluded that it is not everything which is true that can be proven with evidence.

The Joe Ghartey Committee, an adhoc Committee which was set up by the Speaker of Parliament to probe the allegations, on Thursday, March 30, presented their report to the House.

In the report, the Committee established that the Bawku Central MP and a member of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee, Mahama Ayariga's allegations were unsubstantiated and unfounded.

He was therefore required to render an unqualified apology before Parliament yesterday, which he did seemingly unwillingly.