Afenyo-Markin (L) was silenced by Bernard Ahiafor (R) during the vetting of a dep minister nominee
The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Member of Parliament of Akatsi South, Bernard Ahiafor, enforced his powers as the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament during the vetting of the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice-designate, Justice Srem-Sai.
During the vetting of the nominee on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, the Minority Leader, who also serves as the Ranking Member on the Committee, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, asked the nominee to demonstrate borborbor, a dance indigenous to the Ewe tribe.
However, the chairman of the committee overruled the demand by the Ranking Member, a decision that attracted harsh criticism from the Minority Leader.
“Chairman, if you decide to be whimsical and capricious, it will not advance the work of this committee. Apart from the constitutional issues, it is also about our culture. We have had nominees speaking their dialects, and I do not think that if you start with ‘overruled, overruled,’ it helps. The man is talking about a dance that we all don’t know. Until today, if anybody had asked me in the Volta Region about our dances as part of our culture, I would have said Agbadza and borborbor. Today, he is enlightening me and others, and I am saying that he should demonstrate it for just thirty seconds, and you are saying that you are disallowing the question,” he stated.
The chairman stated that he had taken offense to the description of his ruling as whimsical and capricious by the Minority Leader and thus urged him to withdraw those words.
“I will not withdraw. You were whimsical and capricious in the way you overruled my question. I will not withdraw,” the Minority Leader retorted.
Following Afenyo-Markin’s decision not to withdraw his statement after the chairman of the committee asked him three times, Bernard Ahiafor exercised his veto power and ended the questioning of the nominee by the Ranking Member.
“Well, to demonstrate to you that I am the chairman of this particular vetting committee, that may be your last question,” the chairman ruled.
Having made his ruling, Bernard Ahiafor proceeded to acknowledge the guests of the nominee and discharged Justice Srem-Sai from the committee.
By practice, the Ranking Member, as well as the chairman of the Appointments Committee, are entitled to unlimited questions during the vetting of a nominee.
However, Afenyo-Markin, who has always insisted on this right, has received some public criticisms for abusing the privilege.
The MP of Effutu Constituency has, however, maintained that his conduct is in line with the procedures of Parliament.
Watch the exchange between the Appointments Committee Chairman and the Ranking Member below:
Bernard Ahiafor vs Afenyo-Markin!
“To show you that I’m the Chairman, that may be your last question!” – A heated exchange erupts after Afenyo-Markin is asked to withdraw a statement about the chairman. He refuses… and that’s his last question!
📺 Watch the live proceedings… pic.twitter.com/IDJb2GuYdG
— ChannelOne TV (@Channel1TVGHA) February 26, 2025
GA/AE
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