The Office of Parliament has in a statement denied Tuesday’s front page story of The Daily Searchlight newspaper, which accused the Speaker of the House, Edward Kobly Doe Adjaho of “greed”.

In the said publication, the Accra-based Newspaper claimed it had credible information that the Speaker had “grabbed” five vehicles meant for distribution to the Deputy Majority and Minority Leaders of the House.

But, in a rejoinder to the Newspaper on Wednesday, the Deputy Director of Public Affairs of the Ghanaian Legislature, Kate Addo, called the publication “erroneous, mischievous and malicious”.

Below is the statement issued by the Deputy Director, Public Affairs of Parliament

RE: GREEDY SPEAKER

The Office of Parliament has noted with grave concern, an article in the Daily Searchlight Newspaper on Tuesday the 29th of October 2013 headlined, “Greedy Speaker” which said in essence, that the Speaker had commandeered vehicles meant for distribution to the Deputy Majority and Minority Leaders.

The Office of Parliament wishes to state that the facts of the story are erroneous, mischievous and malicious. In fact the paper sought to seek clarification on the issue from the Office of Parliament and was told that the facts of the story as the paper had it were wrong but [it] still went ahead to publish its original story. It must be noted that no vehicle has been parked at the residence of the Speaker as part of his conditions of service; they are convoy vehicles and not for the Speaker’s personal use.

The Office of Parliament will like to place on record that contrary to the report in the Daily Searchlight, the Speaker is yet to be allocated an official vehicle in his capacity as Speaker.

The BMW mentioned in the story was acquired when he was serving as First Deputy Speaker and was in fact bought as a second hand vehicle together with the then 2nd deputy Speaker, Hon Mike Oquaye.

The Speaker, being conscious of the exigencies of our current times, has sought to cut back on expenditure and this has been evidenced by his declining to engage in certain endeavors that will incur cost to the Parliament and by extension, the good people of Ghana. The Speaker has, in fact, declined certain facilities provided under the terms of conditions of service as a way of cutting back on cost which includes various international travels; details of which can be cross checked from the Office of Parliament.

Therefore, for any media member to describe the current Speaker as greedy does not only bring the Office of the Speaker into disrepute but is also unfortunate given the Speaker’s effort in encouraging minimal expenditure in Parliament since his assumption to the Office of Speakership.

The aim of the current Speaker and Parliament as an institution is to encourage free speech in order to deepen the democratic gains made by the country. However, false publications with malicious intent must be discouraged at all times if Ghana is to build on our democratic credentials.