The 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament has accused the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, of being behind the chaos that was seen in Parliament during the ministerial vetting on Thursday, January 30, 2025.
According to Bernard Ahiafor, Afenyo-Markin was the one who ordered the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament on the Appointments Committee to cause the commotion that was seen.
Ahiafor, the Member of Parliament (MP) of Akatsi South, who made these claims in an interview on JoyNews on Monday, February 3, 2025, said that the Minority Leader gave the orders for the NPP MPs to act in the manner they did.
He added that right after giving the order, Afenyo-Markin, the MP of Effutu and Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, walked out so it would seem he was not involved in what transpired.
“The Minority Leader played it smart and safe. I heard him asking them to do some of the things that they did. But when they were about to start, he left the room. It was later that he came back to the room. So at the scene, the actual scene where they were dragging the table and putting the chairs on the table, he was, at that material moment, not in the room. When he came, he couldn’t even move to my left side. He was behind me, at my right side.
“But I know that Jerry was under his instruction to move to go and stop Akandoh from taking the seat to be sworn in. He asked his side that they should all put on the microphone. I heard him saying they should call some people to come to the vetting room,” he said.
The 1st Deputy Speaker of Parliament also refuted assertions that Speaker Bagbin’s suspension of some of the MPs involved in the incident was too harsh.
He indicated that the legislators could have even been given a stiffer punishment for what transpired.
“As a matter of fact, if we want to go into the nitty-gritty of this particular matter, they may suffer harsher punishment than the suspension.
“I heard people arguing that the suspension should have been eight days instead of two weeks. And it all boiled down to the same thing. Saying eight days and two weeks is the same thing.
Because naturally, the eight sitting days amount to two weeks because the sitting days of Parliament in a week are four,” he explained.
About the parliamentary fracas:
The altercation stemmed from the vetting of Minister of Health-designate Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Minister of Foreign Affairs-designate Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The Minority Caucus accused the Majority Caucus of violating an agreement to vet only four nominees for the day, which led to heated exchanges.
Tensions escalated into physical confrontations, with microphones and furniture destroyed, and one of the vetting tables overturned.
Following the incident, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, suspended four Members of Parliament (MPs) for two weeks.
The suspended MPs are: Frank Annoh-Dompreh (NPP, Nsawam-Adoagyiri); Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor (NDC, South Dayi); Alhassan Tampuli (NPP, Gushegu); Jerry Ahmed Shaib (NDC, Weija-Gbawe).
As confirmed by GhanaWeb’s George Ayisi, a special parliamentary committee, chaired by Ho West MP Emmanuel Bedzrah, has been tasked with investigating the incident and submitting a report within 10 days.
Additionally, Speaker Bagbin directed the Clerk of Parliament to file a formal complaint with the Ghana Police Service for a criminal investigation into the MPs’ conduct.
The Speaker also declared that no public funds would be used to repair damaged parliamentary properties and that MPs found culpable would be surcharged for the repairs.
BAI/EK
Meanwhile, watch as Afenyo-Markin explains how he became rich
You can also watch videos from the Minority after chaos erupted during Mintah Akandoh’s vetting