Bernard Ahiafor, until the 9th Parliament of Ghana, may have been a senior in terms of his experience in the House, but in fairness, he was not such a common face or a popular voice in the public’s assessment of things.
But like all things, when he was nominated and approved by Parliament as the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, the eyeballs on him definitely increased, and particularly in the last two or three weeks, his work as the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament have reaffirmed this.
Whether he has been impressive or not – and because many people have drawn in the comparisons of how his predecessor, Joseph Osei Owusu, handled the committee, there is no doubt that this man, the Member of Parliament of Akatsi South in the Volta Region, has flipped many scripts.
In the first place, there have been widespread criticisms, or call them condemnations of his handling of the Appointments Committee, relative to how its Ranking Member, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, has seemed to have taken control of things, while he is still right there in the chair.
For instance, as GhanaWeb reported from the first week of the ongoing vetting sessions of President John Dramani Mahama’s nominees for the various ministerial portfolios, Afenyo-Markin, who is also the MP of Effutu, as well as the Minority Leader in Parliament, may either be a ‘Nuisance or a Delight’ with his approach and his clandestine ‘control’ of the Appointments Committee.
But as many have argued, as Minority Leader, his work is just what he is doing; being a check on the government and ensuring that the government of the day is put in check.
Joseph Osei Owusu, popularly known as Joe Wise, speaking with GhanaWeb, affirms this when he said, “… oversight to make sure that everything the government is presenting is clearly scrutinised, compare that to the constitution and any relevant law and point out any shortcomings if they find one.”
And for the most part, the reasons there appears to be that ‘control; by Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin on the committee is because of his approach to vetting nominees that show up before it.
For instance, in the case of the vetting of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, the Minority Leader made the minister answer questions on some very private matters, such as his home address, especially when this was a public hearing.
On social media and across many other media platforms, this approach was condemned and frowned upon, but this has not deterred the Minority Leader, although, admittedly, he has employed other divisive ways of still probing nominees about their assets.
Afenyo-Markin and Minority MPs stage walkout
But not everything has been all rosy for the Effutu MP and his side.
On Monday, January 13, there was drama at the committee sitting that eventually led to the Minority MPs, led by Afenyo-Markin, temporarily walking out of the ongoing process of the vetting of Dominis Ayine.
This tensed moment was triggered by a question by the Suame MP, John Darko, regarding a potential conflict of interest involving Dr. Ayine’s law firm.
But in defending the nominee, Bernard Ahiafor, the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, explained that Ayine had previously addressed the issue, but Mr. Darko insisted on revisiting it.
Ahiafor, however, ruled the question out of order, sparking a heated exchange, with the Suame MP accusing the chairman of being unfair, and claiming his questions were being suppressed.
As would be the case, naturally, the Ranking Member on the Committee, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, sided with his colleague on the Minority side, also accusing the chairman of bias against NPP members. “Chairman, with the greatest respect, I have observed consistently the way you go at my members, especially the young ones, the new ones, it’s not the right way. I’ve been quiet watching, and I will just be pinching you ‘Mr chairman. Please take it easy. Take it easy’ but the way it is going, it is not too right,” the Minority Leader said.
This confrontational moment led to Afenyo-Markin walking out of the session, followed by some other NPP committee members, all in protest to what was happening.
Ahiafor’s other memorable moments on the Appointments Committee:
But that was not the only time there was a walkout from the committee sitting, at least so far.
This time, it was from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) side of the House, with the Majority Chief Whip, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, clashing with his fellow party member – the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahaifor.
The tolerant, soft-spoken chairman, in his usual attempt to instill order and ensure that the committee is working in accordance with laid down procedures, stamped his authority at a moment that was not so pleasing to Dafeamekpor, who, in all fairness, expected that his fellow Majority side MP would give him some exceptional privilege.
But that was not so.
Well, so what happened?
During the vetting of the Minister of Interior-Designate, Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, the Majority Chief Whip, who is also the Member of Parliament of the South Dayi Constituency in the Volta Region, was infuriated by a claim by the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, that all National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament were given protocol police recruitment allocations.
Dafeamekpor wanted to address the claim made by Afenyo-Markin, but the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, refused to give him the floor to do so. However, the South Dayi legislator insisted the issue must be addressed.
Ahiafor reprimanded Dafeamekpor, saying, “I do not intend to engage in this with you. Honourable Rockson Dafeamekpor, I least expected you to do this. You do not have the floor, wait for me to give you the floor.”
The chairman of the committee then tried to give the opportunity to another member, but Dafeamekpor insisted Afenyo-Markin’s claim must be addressed.
“Chairman, with all due respect, the ranking member has just said that between 2017 and 2024 every NDC member got protocol, I never got. Please, he said every NDC Member of Parliament. So please, I never got any protocol,” the South Dayi MP said.
After his comment, he got up and walked out of the vetting room. As Dafeamekpor was walking away, Ahiafor explained that Afenyo-Markin never said all NDC MPs got protocol police recruitment.
“I’ve been a Member of Parliament for a long time and I know our constituents will come to us with enlistment forms and we beg on behalf of our constituents to be enlisted.
“When you go to bed and you happen to get it, fine. If you don’t happen to get it, fine. But there is no situation where automatically as a Member of Parliament, you are entitled to bring this number of people to be enlisted into the service,” he stated.
The questions that have followed since these incidents in the last weeks have been, is it the case that Bernard Ahiafor, being NDC and the head of the committee, expects his party members to be more accommodating and understanding of him so that he doesn’t appear to be too biased, or, is it simply the case of permitting the other side, through their leader, Afenyo-Markin, to ‘control’ things as much he wants with little to less interjections from him?
Some people too have asked, ‘What would Joseph Osei Owusu have done?’ The answer? Only time will tell…
Source: www.ghanaweb.co
