Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader has urged Barker-Vormawor to present proof of the alleged bribery.

“I had wind of what he said, and then the chairman reached out. I said, ‘Call him, let him come. And if he has anything and he can substantiate it, we need to deal with it openly and transparently,’” he stated.

He stressed that the Appointments Committee operates with integrity, and no nominee is required to pay money to secure approval.

“You spent a few days on the committee. What personal knowledge or otherwise do you have to share on these claims being made—that some monies were paid to members of the committee to approve some of the nominees? I am unaware of any such thing,” he said.

Ayariga further argued that with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) holding a majority in Parliament, there is no incentive for such payments.

“NDC is in power. We have 184 members, and then we have four other independent members. Two are actually NDC members.

The others are not originally NDC but have agreed to do business with NDC.

We can approve anybody. So no nominee needs to give anybody any money because, as a party, you will be whipped in line to vote according to the party’s interest,” he explained.

He noted that unless a nominee faces a serious petition or credibility issue, they are almost certain to be approved.

“Unless there’s something fundamentally wrong with you, and in that instance, if it’s revealed through a petition or something of that sort, we will go back to His Excellency. ‘Please, Excellency, we know your standards. This guy doesn’t meet your standards. Can you withdraw the nomination?’ Otherwise, every other person, most of them, are sitting Members of Parliament, and constitutionally, at the barest minimum, they are qualified to be ministers of state.”

Reaffirming his commitment to transparency, Ayariga encouraged anyone with credible evidence of wrongdoing to present it.

“If he has anything about some money being handed over to Appointments Committee members, he should just come, and then we’ll look into it.

And I encourage it—not just this instance, but any other instance—because we want to build institutions that have integrity, that are credible, and that Ghanaians have trust and confidence in,” he emphasized.

While expressing scepticism about the allegations, Ayariga remained open to further investigations.

“I have not seen it. So I’ll be surprised if he comes up with anything tomorrow. I’ll be surprised. But we encourage every other person to come forward if they have evidence.”

He spoke on Accra-based Joy News.