Assembly members who received Juaben MCE nominee’s ‘bribe’ must be arrested – GII

The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) is calling for the heads of assembly members from the Juaben Municipality in the Ashanti Region for allegedly taking bribes from the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) nominee, Alex Sarfo Kantanka in exchange for votes.

The Programmes Manager at GII, Mary Addah in a Citi News interview argued that if indeed the assembly members received the bribe, they should be arrested.

“Per the law, both the giver and the receiver are culpable if found to have indeed engaged in the act. The onus lies on the police to also pick them up, and it is also for the MCE to prove that he indeed gave monies to unduly influence the process and for which he was supposed to benefit from.”

“He first needs to come clean on how much he gave and who he gave to, then the police will take it from there.”

The President’s nominee, for the Juaben Municipal Assembly, was rejected by assembly members in the area.

An unhappy Alex was captured in a secretly filmed video, demanding a refund of the bribe he allegedly paid to some assembly members after they rejected him during a nearly chaotic confirmation process.

The rejected nominee was captured in a video hurling insults and curses at some individuals believed to be assembly members for accepting his money but refusing to confirm him as the substantive MCE for the area.

He was also seen angrily exchanging words with some assembly members and demanding the return of monies paid to them.

He demanded that everyone who accepted the cash “return his money urgently”.

Meanwhile, police have arrested Alex Sarfo Kantanka, but subsequently granted him a self-recognizance bail.

Police officers in the municipality have also commenced investigations into the alleged bribe payments to ascertain the truth of the matter. – citinewsroom