The Member of Parliament for Kwadaso, Professor Kingsley Nyarko, has denied accusation that the envelope he dropped on the table of two Electoral Commission (EC) election officials during the just ended Ejisu by-election was meant to bribe them.
Speaking to the media in Ejisu, Professor Nyarko argued that he is a teacher of high repute and that his track record demonstrates his discipline and integrity.
Professor Nyarko further added that he was only doing the EC staff a favour and that the envelope was meant for lunch and notintended to bribe them, as it was reported.
According to him, if he intended to do something untoward, he wouldn’t have given the envelope in the full glare of the public.
“If I were to influence them, do you think I will do it in that public space? What I want to put on record is that I did not bribe anybody, I have not influenced anybody to vote or to do anything untoward for my candidate,” he said.
He further argued that individuals were free to interpret the event as they pleased, but his conscience was clear because he couldn’t influence EC officials who were “trained, honest, and disciplined to engage in any untoward actions in a public place.”
Meanwhile the Electoral Commission in a statement issued when the video about the alleged bribe went viral on the social media said it had engaged the police to commence a criminal investigation into the incident, having withdrawn “these two officers from supervising the poll.”
“Our investigations further revealed that the man in the video walked to their table and enquired whether they had eaten. He then placed the envelope on the table and asked them to use the contents of the envelope for their lunch, following which he walked away,” the statement signed by Mr. Samuel Tettey, Deputy Chairman in charge of Operations said.
The Commission went ahead to state that it had taken the following actions;
Withdrawn with immediate effect, the services of the two (2) Temporary Election Officers.
Held preliminary discussions with the Ghana Police Service to kick-start the process for criminal investigations into the matter.
