Bernard Ahiafor is Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament
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Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, has bought into the suggestions calling for a ceiling on the time allotted to the Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee.

He wants both the Chairman and the Ranking Member to be either given a limited number of questions or given a time-frame within which they can ask their questions.

This comes after the concerns raised by a section of the public over the unlimited time frame granted the Ranking Member on the Committee to ask as many questions as possible.

Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee, during the vetting of Ministers-designate for Communications and Foreign Affairs, Samuel Nartey George and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, on Thursday and Friday, January 30, and January 31, respectively, spent over three hours on each nominee asking them questions.

This raised a lot of questions about the time given to the Ranking MembersĀ  after the long hours spent on one of the nominees created a commotion when other nominees were to be vetted as a result of the time delay.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Confusion erupts among members of Appointments Committee over vetting of Akandoh and Ablakwa

In a special interview with Alfred Ocansey on TV3 Monday, February 03, 2025, Bernard Ahiafor, Chairman of the Appointments Committee indicated that the unlimited access given to the Ranking Member to ask as many questions as possible was for a reason but is now being abused, the reason he sides with those calling for that privilege to be scrapped.

“Probably at the time that this practice and convention was was propounded, it was based on reasonability of the Ranking Members of the Committee. But now that we’ve realised that that rule is being abused, we need to take a second look at it, place a ban on either the number of questions that you have or the number of hours within which you have to operate,” he indicated.

He continued that limiting the number of questions or setting a time span will make people ask reasonable questions instead of wasting time on questions whose answers could be verified on the documents provided by the nominee.

“I believe when we do it that way, some frivolous questions wouldn’t have been asked. You’ll go straight to the policy issues to test the knowledge of the nominee on the policies relating to the designated ministry. You’ll not spend so much time on the CV of the nominee.

“You won’t spend so much time on the tax clearance of the nominee when you have a tax clearance certificate before you. You won’t spend so much time in knowing where the nominee lives and whether it is a rented premises or it is his own house,” he indicated.

Clerk to Appointments Committee won’t be removed today or tomorrow – Ahiafor tells Afenyo-Markin