Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin
The Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has accused the Clerk of the Appointments Committee of Parliament of aligning with the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and influencing the discharge of her duties.
Chaos erupted in Parliament during the sitting of the Appointments Committee on Thursday evening as tensions flared between members of the Minority and Majority.
The clash escalated to the point where tables and microphones were damaged, prompting the intervention of the police to restore order and prevent further destruction.
The Majority insisted on proceeding with the vetting session beyond 10 PM, but the Minority strongly opposed the move, declaring that they were done for the day.
Members of the Minority began loosening the arranged tables, which led to most of the microphones falling off and getting broken.
After about 30 minutes of confusion, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga and other leaders stepped in to calm tempers.
He announced that, with the tables broken and microphones destroyed, the sitting could not continue, forcing the Committee to reschedule for the next day.
In an interview with journalists, Afenyo-Markin claimed that the Clerk had resorted to partisanship, aiding the work of the Majority caucus in Parliament, and, by extension, the government.
“The NDC is always intimidating people; they think they must always bully. We will not accept any bullying. They can call us a micro-minority, they can say whatever they want. We have been cooperating with them. Today, we agreed to vet three nominees. The Clerk of the Committee is a partisan Clerk. She is a typical NDC member; she agrees with them and then advertises and informs people to come. The practice has always been that the Chairman of the Committee and the Ranking Member will agree on which nominees to vet.
“Yesterday, there was no agreement. The Chairman was with me, and there was no meeting. Then, at 10 PM, the Clerk advertised ten nominees. This morning, my deputy was here; they had a pre-sitting, and they agreed on three. Later in the afternoon, they said four. Then again, they said, ‘Let’s compromise on one more.’ We agreed to make it five. Just as we finished with the five, we realized that they had paraded several other nominees. They thought we would boycott, but we will not boycott.”
KA