Bernard Ahiafor, the Appointments Committee Chairman, has charged that the Minority Caucus purposefully interfered with the ministerial screening on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
Mr. Ahiafor said during his appearance before the committee looking into the disruption today that the Minority’s actions that evening caused public property to be destroyed and a hostile atmosphere to be created.
In order to conduct an investigation into the incident, Speaker Alban Bagbin suspended four Members of Parliament and formed an investigating committee, which was led by Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, a Member of Parliament from Ho West. Yesterday, the suspensions were lifted.
On Wednesday, February 5, 2025, Mr. Ahiafor addressed the committee, “I perceived members on the Minority side to be putting up an attitude that is very disruptive. For me, I find it very difficult to go back on my words having agreed with you this is what we are going to do.”
He described the course of events, saying that both parties had planned and approved the vetting procedure.
He asserted, however, that the proceedings were ruined because the Minority was given orders to cause disturbances.
“We programmed the vetting; we would all agree on the numbers. Sometimes, on the day of the vetting, instruction would be given to the clerk that the Minority would be engaged in doing one thing or the other,” he said.
Mr. Ahiafor further said that Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the minority leader, gave his colleagues clear instructions, which fueled the disturbances.
“I heard the Minority Leader requesting that they should call some people into the vetting room, and in no time, I saw people walking into the room. That very day, the Minority Leader was so harsh to the Second Deputy Whip, Jerry Shaib. I intend not to repeat the words that were used against him,” he stated.
He further related how Afenyo-Markin further hampered the vetting process by ordering his men to turn off all microphones.
In a way, Ahiafor said, “To some extent, I did not understand what they really wanted.”
According to him, things worsened after a Twi comment sparked a fury that resulted in cable pulling and a total collapse of order.
“Before I could realise, somebody said something in Twi and they started pulling the cables and there was pandemonium. The whole place became very hostile. I was so much surprised by the incident of that day and I was just sitting down looking at them,” he recalled.
The committee’s investigation aims to collect information, look to determine what caused the chaos, and report back to the Speaker for additional action.
Source: newsthemegh.com