I am corrupt – Alban Bagbin

• Posted on June 22, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

In a radio interview on Starr FM Wednesday night, Mr Bagbin who is also a Member of Parliament for Nadowli Kaleo in the Upper West Region said the political system in the way it is in Ghana, makes public office holders corrupt.

He said for instance President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will struggle to fight corruption as he had received support from people in all the elections he contested and lost before winning the 2016 elections.

“When people invest in you and you are given office, of course that is one of the reasons why I said His Excellency will have it tough fighting corruption…, because he fought the first world war [Election 2008], second world war [Election 2012] and third world war [2016], sponsored by people.”  

“Is he saying that those people are Father Christmas, no. As a country we have to look at this… we should all admit we are all corrupt, its a fact, because of the system,” Mr Bagbin said when he appeared on the Starr Chat show with Bola Ray, which was monitored by Graphic Online’s Seth J. Bokpe.

When Bola Ray asked him if he was also corrupt, he said “yes I am…Look we have Reverends, we have Pastors who go through the system, and they are corrupted.”

Mr Bagbin who has given hints of an interest to lead the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to Election 2020 as its presidential candidate had said in the past that MPs take bribes.

He said in Koforidua in March 2014 that some Members of Parliament (MPs) take bribes to articulate the views of some individuals and organisations on the floor of Parliament.

He said evidence to that effect existed and added that the practice had persisted because of the lack of laid-down rules and ethics on lobbying in the country.

Mr Bagbin at that time spoke at a two-day seminar in Koforidua to representatives of 40 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which had sought to influence policy by having laws passed or changing the laws thought to be inimical to national development.

The workshop was organised by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, a donor-funded organisation which seeks to promote an enabling environment for the development and growth of the private sector through advocacy, and STAR Ghana, another such organisation.

When the matter was raised in Parliament for possible investigations, Mr Bagbin told Parliament he was misquoted by the media.

-Graphic