Boakye Agyarko takes his oath before the Joe Ghartey Committee to confirm or deny on record whether he paid a 3,000 cedi bribe to have him approved as Minister of Energy.

Chair of the Parliament committee constituted to investigate the matter asks him about the bribery allegations.

Agyarko: I will state categorically without any equivocation that I have never contrived or paid any money to wave a decision in my favour.

Que: When you appeared before the committee were you asked to provide documentation of the claims you made during the vetting.

Ans: I provided all the documentation that were required by the committee.

Que: You later came to Parliament and met in the speaker's lobby. What happened?

When we were at the Flagstaff House waiting to be sworn in a call came from Parliament that myself and Osafo Maafo were required to come to Parliament. When I came I was confronted with three questions. The debt status of the energy sector, the second the building of FPSO and the third was figurative language I had used about John Mahama in respect of the world bank breathing down his neck. I answered the first two questions and withdrew the third comment.

At no point from my vetting did I feel the confirmation of my nomination was at risk and therefore had no motive to bribe anybody. If at all my confirmation was at risk, I knew there was a majority in the appointments committee who could approve me by majority decision and same could be done in plenary so there was no motive all in paying any bribe.

Que: You have heard the allegations flying everywhere in the media that you bribed somebody. What did you after you heard those allegation.

Ans: I felt incredulous about the matter and I said without a fear of contradiction that I paid no bribe because. The matter was so outlandish it will fall flat on its own face. And I had spoken to about ten or eleven radio stations refuting that allegation and I thought that was enough so I didn't consider a rejoinder