Following the violent circumstances that broke out during Thursday evening’s vetting session, Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has forcefully reacted to what he regards as intimidation tactics by the NDC members on the Appointments Committee.
After the incidents, Afenyo-Markin spoke out in support of the Minority’s position, stating that nothing would prevent them from posing the “necessary questions” throughout the vetting procedure.
“You are aware that some of the nominees, we don’t even ask them questions. Where we have to ask the relevant questions, we ask. Nothing will stop us from asking the necessary questions,” he said.
In his statement, “NDC is always out to intimidate people,” he accused the Majority of trying to intimidate the Minority. Bullying all the time. We can be considered a micro-minority. What they wish to communicate is up to them. We have been working along with them.
An agreement had been made to vet three nominees, according to Mr. Afenyo-Markin, but the Minority thereafter tried to push for more nominees without the necessary agreement.
“Today, we agreed to do three. The committee is on a partisan track. Indeed, she is a typical NDC. She agrees with them and then informs people to come,” he said, without naming names.
“All the practice has always been that the chairman and ranking member would agree as to who and who will come,” he explained, accusing the majority of unilaterally altering the agreed-upon vetting schedule. There was no agreement yesterday. There was no meeting; the chairman was with me. The clerk then advertised 10 this morning at 10 p.m.
He added that his deputy was present at a pre-sitting discussion where it was first decided that three nominees would be vetted. But the Minority apparently continued to move about.
“They agreed to three. Later in the afternoon, they said four, and then again, said, ‘Oh, let’s compromise on one more.’ We said okay, they made it five.”
Mr. Afenyo-Markin asserted that the Minority had hidden agendas in hopes that the Majority would leave despite these back-and-forth adjustments.
We discovered that they had paraded a number of other nominees in the hopes that we would boycott just as we were wrapping up the three. We’re not going to boycott.
His remarks follow a contentious session in which tensions escalated to the point that law enforcement had to step in to bring things under control.
As members from both sides argued over how many nominees should be scrutinized, the vetting process which was supposed to be routine became chaotic.
It’s unclear how the Appointments Committee will handle the remaining vetting procedure without getting into any more arguments given the continuing conflicts.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com