The Chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee has taken a swipe at the Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the Committee for what he describes as a failure to adjust to his new role in opposition.
Speaking on PM Express on Monday, February 3, Bernard Ahiafor revealed that while he maintains a good working relationship with Alexander Afenyo-Markin, his behaviour sometimes makes collaboration difficult.
“I have a very good relationship with him, but sometimes I find it very difficult to take the excess,” the First Deputy Speaker admitted.
“I am one particular person who will not agree on one thing with you, and after a few minutes or a few hours, you behave as if that was not what we had agreed upon. It pisses me off.”
Mr Ahiafor’s comments come amid growing tensions between the Minority and the Clerk of the Appointments Committee, with Mr Afenyo-Markin and his party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), accusing the Clerk of bias.
The disagreement has disrupted vetting proceedings, drawing attention to the internal struggles of the current Minority leadership.
The Akatsi South MP dismissed his Effutu counterpart’s claims that the Clerk of the Appointments Committee, Gifty Jiagge-Gobah, was acting in a partisan manner or withholding information from the Minority.
[embedded content]He insisted that all reports are shared transparently with both the Chairman and the Ranking Member.
“There is nothing that the Clerk of the Committee has put out there that we have not agreed upon,” Mr Ahiafor stated.
“There is no occasion that the Clerk will not give me and the Minority Leader a draft report. Even if you go back to recap, there are instances where the two of us will be sitting down there, and the Clerk will hold two reports and give me one, give him one in full glare of the camera. So I don’t know why he is alleging that he’s not been given reports.”
Bernard Ahiafor further suggested that Afenyo-Markin’s behaviour stems from his previous position as Majority Leader, making it difficult for him to adjust to his new role in opposition.
[embedded content]“It’s about time he realises that he is no longer Majority Leader, but he’s a Minority Leader. He can use any adjectives to describe himself—mighty and happy Minority—but for me, he is a Minority Leader,” Mr Ahiafor argued.
He explained that in parliamentary practice, Clerks take direction from the Chairman of the Committee, not the Ranking Member, a fact Mr Afenyo-Markin has struggled to accept.
“It doesn’t look like he’s the only one that is that way. Majority Leaders and Chairmen of Committees give information and take decisions from the Clerk, but by our practice, Clerks of Committees don’t take decisions from the Ranking Member.
“They take decisions from the Chairman of the Committee. That is why their letters mostly read, ‘I have been directed by the Chairman of the Committee,’ not the Ranking Member,” he clarified.
Mr Ahiafor maintained that Mr Afenyo-Markin’s perspective remains shaped by his time in the Majority and urged him to adjust to the realities of opposition.
“Because he’s coming from the Majority point of view, sometimes I believe he forgets himself and doesn’t come to the realisation that he is operating from a Minority point of view,” he noted.
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