The Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has accused the Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo Markin of pretending not to know or understand the dictate of the standing orders, the rules and regulations guiding proceedings in Parliament.

The confrontation occurred during a session of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, where tensions rose over remarks made by the Minority Leader, which Ayariga described as improper and contrary to parliamentary rules.

Visibly agitated, the Majority Leader accused his counterpart of disregarding the standing orders of Parliament and misrepresenting the work of the committee.

“Mr Chairman, if the Minority, led by the Minority Leader, were to walk out of here and invite all the journalists, they could describe the work of the committee in any language. Freedom of speech. But before this committee of Parliament, the rules are clear what you can raise, what you cannot raise and how you can raise it,” Ayariga stated.

He added that he found it surprising that, after several years in Parliament, the Minority Leader still appeared not to understand the procedural rules governing committee sittings.

“I will be surprised if after all these years in this Parliament, you don’t understand those rules. Yes, I intend to be offensive because he has told me that I am here to deliberately obstruct the Minority,” he said.

'You will not attack anyone and walk away while I sit in this committee' – Ayariga to Afenyo-Markin

Ayariga defended his stance, arguing that his conduct was aimed at ensuring adherence to parliamentary procedure and not obstruction.

“To describe my conduct here as deliberately obstructing the Minority when I’m trying to keep him to the rules is unfair. When you say the conduct of a judge, we’re not talking about personal conduct who he slept with and who he didn’t sleep with. We’re talking about his work and how he conducted it,” the Majority Leader explained.

He further rebuked the Minority Leader for labeling the committee’s work as “opaque” and “a travesty of justice.”

“You are saying that the committee conducted its work in an opaque manner, in darkness and that the outcome of their work is a travesty of justice. Yet, you have not shown that any constitutional rules governing the committee’s work were breached in any way. How can you describe the work as opaque and improper removal and expect me to sit here and allow that? You are clearly violating the rules,” Ayariga asserted.



His comment follows Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s, criticisms of the committee that recommended the removal of former Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo, describing the process as a “travesty of justice.”

According to him, the decision to remove Justice Torkornoo was carried out in a manner that breached constitutional procedures and undermined the principles of transparency and fairness.

“It is our [minority] contention that the removal of Torkornoo didn’t adhere to any constitutional procedure. Never should any Ghanaian suffer such a fate. The removal of Torkornoo was cloaked in unacceptably opaque circumstances,” Afenyo-Markin said

The controversy led to the Minority Caucus in Parliament rejecting the nomination of Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie and abstained from participating in the vetting proceedings.

The decision to boycott the process was announced by Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin following hours of a back-and-forth with Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga, which led to a suspension for nearly 30 minutes.

After recess, Afenyo-Markin announced the abstinence of the Minority Caucus from the process as he led his side to walk out, leaving only members of the Majority side on the Appointments Committee to conduct the vetting process.

"Be it known to you, chairman, and the committee and the country that we, the Minority Caucus, hereby vote en bloc to reject the nominee. We would want to state on record that the Majority can proceed with the questions. We do not intend to proceed with any question. We are, however, registering in the strongest terms that we reject the nomination, and the records should reflect that the report of this committee be a majority report," the Minority Leader and MP for Effutu stated.



AM/SSM

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