Politics GhanaPolicy Checking in progress Published 12 November 2026 · Updated 12 Nov, 05:50 UTC

Ghana's Parliament finds no evidence MPs received alleged $46,000 AKSA payments, and sends its review to the Special Prosecutor

Ghana's Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, told the House on Wednesday that an internal administrative review of the approval of the 2015 AKSA emergency power agreement found no evidence that any MP or Parliamentary Service officer received the alleged payments of about $46,000, said to have been paid to influence the approval. Mr Bagbin stressed that the review was administrative, not a criminal investigation — it could not compel witnesses, take evidence under oath or see bank records — so it neither establishes whether payments were made nor absolves anyone. He directed that the report and its documents go to the Office of the Special Prosecutor and other investigative bodies.

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Key points

Parliament's review found no evidence any MP or Parliamentary Service officer received the alleged $46,000 AKSA payments, Speaker Bagbin told the House.
The review was administrative only — no power to compel witnesses or see bank records — and the Speaker said it neither proves no payments were made nor absolves anyone.
The report and its documents go to the Office of the Special Prosecutor and other investigative bodies, with Parliament's records preserved.

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The allegations arose from US proceedings involving former Goldman Sachs banker Asante Kwaku Berko and surfaced in August 2026.

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What happened

The AKSA emergency power agreement was approved in July 2015, during Ghana's power crisis, when emergency generation deals were signed at speed. The allegation now before investigators — that about $46,000 was paid to persons associated with the legislature to facilitate that approval — comes not from a Ghanaian inquiry but from proceedings in the United States involving the banker who worked on the project's financing.

Parliament's own review could only look inside Parliament: its records, its correspondence and voluntary interviews. Everything outside that room — bank transfers, private communications, the money itself — sits with the criminal investigators the Speaker has now handed the file to.

What we know / what we don't know yet

What we know

That Parliament's administrative review found no evidence in its records or interviews that any MP or officer received the alleged payments.
That the Speaker has sent the report and documents to the Office of the Special Prosecutor and other investigative bodies.
That the review could not compel witnesses or examine bank records — its limits are stated by the Speaker himself.

What we don't know yet

Whether the alleged payments were in fact made — the review could not establish that either way, and the OSP's investigation has not reported.
The Special Prosecutor's response — no statement from the OSP was in the reporting read.
The full text of the review report — the Speaker announced its findings; the report itself has not been published in the reporting read.

Claim by claim

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Verified

Speaker Alban Bagbin told Parliament on Wednesday that the internal administrative review he commissioned into the approval of the 2015 AKSA emergency power agreement found no evidence that any Member of Parliament or Parliamentary Service officer received the alleged payments of approximately $46,000, said to have been paid to persons associated with the legislature to facilitate approval of the agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Turkish energy company AKSA.

Why this label: The finding is the Speaker's own announcement to the House, reported in agreement by Joy Online, Channel One News and The Vaultz News, each read in full. It is a finding of no evidence in Parliament's records and interviews — the Speaker said so himself — not a finding that no payment was made.