From (L - R) Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah is Deputy Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor is Chairman and Alexander Afenyo-Markin is Ranking Member
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Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Minority Leader, has chronicled the events leading to the chaos at last Thursday’s vetting.

He has said that the Minority, contrary to what a section of the public has assumed, is law abiding and has demonstrated gentility in its dealings in the House so far.

Addressing the press in Parliament Monday, February 03, 2025, he said it was the actions of the Majority and Clerk to bring in more nominees to be vetted as late as 22:00 hours on the day that made them stage a protest.

According to him, after agreeing to vet three nominees on the day, the Majority brought two additional persons who were screened, only for them to see six more persons in line to be vetted.

“On that Thursday incident, we had an agreement. My deputy leader, who represented the caucus’ interest at the preceding meeting agreed with the chair of the committee to vet only three for the day and that was their understanding.

“When we were done with the three, they asked for one more. It changed to four. When we were done with the four, they asked for one more. As a final thing, we had the fifth person. We vetted them in record time, only to see that they had paraded six more nominees on the corridors of the committee to be vetted. And this was 10 p.m,” he recounted.

The Effutu lawmaker accused the NDC of stocking the venue with its supporters to intimidate them during the vetting, something he said culminated to the disruption that occurred on Thursday.

“Apart from that, the NDC has resorted to ferrying its foot soldiers to come and intimidate us. The insults, the booing, all the insinuations, the attacks. Sometime we will be working and they will be pushing, the physical assaults,” he stated, adding that they are going to take measures for their own security.

“We have brought this to the attention of Parliament police. We are also going to beef up our security. The attacks are becoming one too many. We don’t feel safe.

“All these gave rise to our push down on that night. We are law abiding. NPP is known for its gentlemanliness. We don’t go physical. But we had to protest. Protest is part of democracy. It’s our right,” he lamented.

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