The Chairman of the Appointment Committee of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, has refuted claims of partisanship and intimidation by the Minority.
The Akatsi South MP stated that he did not, in any way, gag the caucus during the first phase of the vetting.
At a press conference on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, the Minority accused Mr. Ahiafor of displaying bias and partisanship, hindering a thorough vetting process.
Tano North MP, Dr. Gideon Boako, cited incidents from the January 13, 2025, vetting, claiming that the Chairman shouted at Minority members, including Atiwa East MP, Abena Osei-Asare, in an attempt to shield the nominees from scrutiny.
However, the First Deputy Speaker disagreed with the Minority’s claims.
According to him, he had actually overly indulged the Minority, stating that the clear guidelines were agreed upon during a meeting. Yet, he [Ahiafor] even bent some rules.
He emphasized that he takes exception to the Minority’s claims.
“I take a very great exception to that because I have accommodated them and I have overindulged them. Going forward, I do not know how they are going to describe me; I never gagged them.
“I went to the extent of bending the ground rules that we had agreed upon to even accommodate certain things that I ought not to have accommodated, yet they describe me as being unfair to them. Well, posterity will be the judge,” he stated in an interview on Accra-based TV3.
Detailing some of the rules that were bent, he added, “There should be some limit on the number of questions or the time frame within which the Majority Leader is supposed to ask questions.”
“It looks like the very first experience he had an unlimited period, and for me, it was excessive.”
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