Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has stated that he will not allow the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum Commission, Emeafa Hardcastle, to get away with her comments directed at him.
“I won’t allow her to have her way. Whatever she has to do to apologise to Parliament, she must. She cannot sit down and denigrate Parliament,” he said.
This follows a heated exchange that ensued between them during the vetting of Dr. Edward Omane Boamah, the Minister-Designate for Defence, when the Appointments Committee took a brief recess.
During this break, a verbal altercation, a video from which has gone viral occurred between Annoh-Dompreh and Madam Hardcastle.
The Nsawam-Adoagyiri MP claimed that as he was leaving the room, Madam Hardcastle made remarks such as, “You are threatening me that you are taking me on because who are you? What do you mean by taking me on? You are a micro-minority. Doesn’t Afenyo-Markin himself use that phrase? I don’t have time for that. You think you can bully me here?”
But Mr. Annoh-Dompreh in an interview on Adom FM’s morning show Dwaso Nsem, responded firmly that he would take her on, stressing the seriousness of the exchange.
“I didn’t insult her. But I won’t let her denigrate the Parliament of Ghana. If I had acted that way towards her as a respected lawyer, I would have been condemned, and I won’t condone such behaviour from her.
“The world is round, and people should understand that. I believe she had already made up her mind to confront me even before she left home. I’m shocked that a woman would verbally abuse a man. This is something that should not be tolerated,” Annoh-Dompreh clarified.
The lawmaker acknowledged that the verbal exchange might have stemmed from comments he made in Parliament, which possibly angered Hardcastle.
Annoh-Dompreh also stressed that he did not provoke Hardcastle and is carefully considering how to proceed.
“I’m convinced my statements in Parliament triggered her reaction. I am thinking through the process very carefully. I will exhaust all internal arrangements within Parliament, and after that, we will decide the way forward, or not,” he stated.
While expressing his concerns, he said he was leaving the matter to the Speaker of Parliament, who had promised to settle it.
He added, “I know that history will judge us. I have been quiet, waiting to see how this unfolds. But I won’t allow this matter to die. We will go through the full cycle of the process to ensure the right thing is done.”