'Parliament did not lie' over MPs Covid-19 tests results

Parliament has rejected the claim that it lied over test results of members and staff tested for Covid-19.

The claim by the Minority Chief Whip, Mubarak Muntaka Wednesday appeared to pour cold on demands by the house on a media outfit for a retraction of a publication that had said some members of parliament and a number of staffers there had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The Directorate of Public Affairs however, says in a statement it issued Thursday night that the House did not lie when the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu called the publication 'speculative Journalism' and demanded a retraction.

Below is the statement by the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament.

PARLIAMENT DID NOT LIE, MAJORITY LEADER, NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR COVID-19 RESULTS

Contrary to reports in the media, that Parliament lied about the results of the COVID-19 tests results, Parliament would like to state categorically that no untruth was peddled in the said matter. This follows allegations by the Honorable Minority Chief Whip that the Director of Public Affairs lied in the said matter and that these were told to her by the Honorable Majority Leader.

We would like to put on record that the Majority Leader is in no way involved with the process of the testing. The duty of coordinating the testing process is that of the Medical Director in Parliament, who told Parliament specifically that the results of the tests were not yet known by Parliament as at Tuesday 26/05/2020. To attribute lies to the Public Affairs Department, the Majority Leader and the entire Parliament is therefore unfortunate.

Parliament wants to put on record that it has no particular interest in hiding the results of the tests. Parliament would also like to make specific reference to a news release dated 26/05/2020 signed by the Director of Public Affairs which requested the media house to pull the story down on the basis that the facts were not true since they were not known to the directorate and would like to state that this assertion does not mean that the House denied the possibility of anyone testing positive for COVID-19. It therefore is rather unfortunate that this was interpreted to mean a denial of a possible positive test result, leading to media reports that Parliament lied.

We wish to state categorically that the Majority Leader is the leader of the House and performs his duties as such. He does not deal with the day to day running of the various departments of the institution and could not have told the Director of Public Affairs to lie either on his behalf or on that
of the institution.

ISSUED BY;
THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTORATE.