Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga has questioned the constitutional basis upon which the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, gives a preliminary comment when a nominee appears before the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
This follows hours of back-and-forth in Parliament over the vetting of Chief Justice (CJ) nominee, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, where the Minority Leader, who is also the Ranking Member on the committee, made some preliminary comments that led to a long debate, dragging the process for hours.
Afenyo-Markin had contended that the Acting CJ was a “disputed nominee”, a comment the Majority Leader had asked him to retract and apologise for, where he stated that the rules which guide members in the chamber apply to committee sittings.
The Minority caucus’ argument was hinged on the fact that there were pending matters in court regarding the nomination of Baffoe-Bonnie, where Ayariga argued that pending matters in court are not discussed in the House.
“The rules are clear, what you can’t do in the chamber, you cannot do in committees. So the rules are clear on pending matters, so you can’t come here and comment on pending matters in a way that will prejudice the interest of the parties. So we stay away from running commentaries on pending matters, even though we refer to them,” Ayariga stated.
He expressed shock over the conduct of the legislator, having been in Parliament for some years and serving in various leadership roles, and still bringing up matters that are forbidden to be discussed in the House.
“You’re a senior lawyer, you know. You’ve been in this House, you’ve been the Majority Leader, you’ve been a Minority Leader, you’ve lived through all the rulings in these matters, pending matters we should stay away from them. The conduct of judges we should stay away from them.
“You have so far not impugned the process of nominating the nominee and submitting the nomination to this House and the process of referral by the Speaker of the nominee to this Committee for the Committee to do its work. Those are the legitimate matters that you can raise and you haven’t raised them,” the Bawku Central lawmaker, who is also the Majority Leader, explained further.
He went on to question the basis upon which Afenyo-Markin thought he had a right to make preliminary comments before a nominee is vetted, stating that the fact that it has become a practice without constitutional basis does not warrant the Effutu Member of Parliament abusing it.
“This whole issue about you making a preliminary statement, show me a rule that says you have the right to make a preliminary statement. Show me in our standing orders, anything that says you Afenyo-Markin, have a right to make preliminary statement. You don’t,” he stated.
