South Dayi Member of Parliament (MP), Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has urged the Appointments Committee to refer matters of contempt to the Privileges Committee.
According to him, the Committee is mandated to vet ministerial nominees and not probe contempt issues, hence must stick to that.
Mr. Dafeamekpor made this statement amidst disagreements during the Committee’s session on Wednesday when social activist Oliver Barker-Vormawor was asked to substantiate his bribery allegation against them.
The Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, on Tuesday, when the matter came to the Committee’s attention, called for an immediate suspension of the vetting process, stressing that they must purge themselves.
The vetting, however, proceeded as scheduled, with Mr. Barker-Vormawor summoned to appear before the House on Wednesday.
Speaking during the sitting, Mr. Dafeamekpor asserted that the Committee members could not act as judges in their own court.
“So I believe that the possible procedure to take, upon the invitation of the possible contempt… of his lawyers and having admitted to the statement or one of the statements in question, Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, we would have made a referral to the appropriate Committee of Parliament, which is the Committee on Privileges. Then we can proceed to our mandate, which is to vet,” he explained.
He emphasized that the issue must be referred to the Privileges Committee for appropriate action.
“So this matter must be disgorged and hived off to the Committee of Privileges. We are not mandated, and we cannot, in the present exercise, however preliminary it is. For me, it’s a journey to nowhere. We can’t make that determination. Our mandate under (217) is to vet ministerial nominees,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr. Barker-Vormawor, who denied making the allegation, was made to apologize and is expected to issue a disclaimer after stating he had no intentions of disparaging the Committee.
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