Following the night at Ghana’s Parliament that was marred by chaotic, violent scenes during the vetting of some nominees of President John Dramani Mahama, the Minority has returned to the House with further chaos.
This came about after the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, led his side of the Appointments Committee of Parliament to the sitting and immediately they got in, he started hurling invectives at someone.
The person turned out to the Clerk of the Appointments Committee, who had been accused by the Minority Leader of political bias in the interest of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
What Annoh-Dompreh said happened?
According to an interview granted to the media by Frank Annoh-Dompreh, he explained that the Clerk to the Appointments Committee was acting in bad faith when his side was outside in a meeting.
“This morning, to be fair with them, the Majority Chief Whip called me as a fellow whip, and said that we should meet. Then I told him that we were having a caucus meeting so he should just give us about 30 minutes or an hour; we will come and engage, then we can agree on the schedule.
“We were in a meeting; we did not even close then they went ahead to start the vetting. That is totally wrong; it’s a display of bad faith, and you don’t treat your colleagues with such disrespect… you could have just waited for an hour, we will come and agree on what to do. We are not against him (Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, Minister of Health-designate) – he is one of us; we have no objection, but when we want to schedule things properly,” he explained.
What Afenyo-Markin said:
“We are here to vet our colleague the health minister-designate. The understanding we had in the morning was to have a discussion prior to this engagement. We were taken by surprise, that the clerk, without notice to us, was administering the oath. That notwithstanding, I think we’ve had a discussion to proceed with this vetting and so, thereafter, resolve all outstanding matters.
“So, honourable members, we shall proceed to do the vetting for our colleague, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, and we believe that, chair, in good faith, as he’s always been known for, will do that just that so that we resolve all outstanding matters without any further rancour. We want to assure the Ghanaian people that our side does not seek to obstruct government business. Our side is committed to fully cooperating with government to form its cabinet and to get all appointments through,” he said.
What happened the night before:
The Majority Leader of Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, addressed the chaos in Parliament, which happened following the decision to vet the Minister of Foreign Affairs-designate, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The Appointments Committee had agreed on vetting four nominees on January 30, 2025.
However, five had been vetted at of that time, and two more were being added, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs-designate, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, and the Minister of Health-designate, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, which has generated the chaos.
As a result of the chaos between the Majority and Minority, microphones and tables were destroyed.
The Minority side was seen overturning the vetting table.
“We agreed on four; we have done five. Kofi Adams was not part of the process, but we have done it. It will not happen,” Frank Annoh-Dompreh, the Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, who doubles as Minority Chief Whip, said in an interview.
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
