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Confusion rocked Parliament’s Appointments Committee sitting Thursday night, when members of the Minority and Majority caucuses clashed over the vetting of Mr. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, minister-designate for health, and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, designated for Foreign Affairs.
The disagreement began after 2200 hours when the vetting of the nominee for Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, had been concluded. The Majority Caucus decided to vet two more ministerial nominees that night after having already vetted five others.
The Minority group on the Committee, however, proposed rescheduling the vetting to Friday, January 31, saying it was too late. The Majority rejected that suggestion, insisting that the vetting should continue as scheduled.
It accused the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo Markin, (Ranking Member on the Committee), of spending more time on nominees, hence the delay. The situation escalated into chaos, disrupting the session as tables were broken and microphones destroyed in a tussle between some committee members.
In response, the Majority Leader, Mr. Mahama Ayariga, intervened and apologized for the unfortunate incident, suspending the vetting and rescheduling it to Friday, January 31. “The microphones have been destroyed and even if we want to proceed with the hearing, the media cannot pick the feed. It is unfortunate this has happened,” he said.
“Let us not destroy the enviable image that Ghana has carved for itself in terms of our democracy.” The clash between the two causes brought the Committee’s work to a standstill, with both sides refusing to back down from their positions. The incident had raised concerns over the integrity of the vetting process and the ability of Parliament to conduct its business in a peaceful and orderly manner.
Meanwhile, the Minority Leader, Mr. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, alleged that the Clerk to the Appointments Committee, Madam Gifty Jiagge-Gobah, was being partisan and favoring the National Democratic Congress (NDC). “… The Clerk to the Committee is a partisan clerk…, she agrees with the NDC and she advertises and informs people to come,” he told the media. Mr. Afenyo-Markin said the Minority would not be bullied into submission and prevented from asking the necessary questions during vetting.
“We will not accept any bullying. They can call us micro-minority, they can say whatever they want to say. We have been cooperating with them.” Earlier Thursday morning, the two sides reached an agreement to vet three nominees, but the Majority later attempted to push for additional nominees without proper consensus, hence the disruption in the vetting process, he said.
Source: GNA
