Author: nii Ghanamps

The Member of Parliament for Okaikwei Central Patrick Yaw Boamah has urged the House to give priority to the setting up of the House Committee at the start of the life span of every Parliament as there are urgent issues that has to be dealt with.

According to him it is unacceptable that MPs will receive delegations to their office and it becomes impossible to use the elevator because it is not working; same with the air-conditioners in their offices.

He gave the advice when he recounted receiving a delegation to his office on the tenth floor but the delegation was met with a faulty elevator.

He further pointed out that this could have been addressed easily if the House Committee were in place.

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Former Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta is traumatized with the adjective used on him as “fugitive” but still knows God is with him, Minority Leader Kwamena Afenyo-Markin revealed on the floor of the House on Thursday, February 13, 2025.

Afenyo-Markin contributing on the development thanked the Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga for investigating issues surrounding the raiding of the private residence of the former Finance Ministers.

According to him he has had extensive conversations with Ken Ofori Atta who is undergoing a medical procedure outside the jurisdiction.

Again, he noted that he had an engagement with the current Chief of Staff who confirmed that the former Finance Minister wrote to him and was truthful about it and added that Ken will return back to Ghana within a reasonable time.

He said he will engage the Office of the Special Prosecutor and assure him if there was any miscommunication that the man will make himself available, and clarified that he left the country with permission; and if there is anything to be investigated, he will make himself available.

President John Mahama’s assurance given through the Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga to uphold the liberty of Ghanaians, the Minority thanked him and they will accord him all the necessary courtesies and we will cooperate and oppose when we have to oppose. Our duty is to oppose you, we can work together to represent our people for them to learn from us, he assured.

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Minority Leader Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin has commended the current Attorney General and Minister of Justice Dominic Akuritinga Ayine for preventing a political witch-hunt on him when he was then Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

Commenting on the recent raiding of the private residence of the former Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta, Afenyo-Markin recounting that in 2015 as a legal practitioner when he was in the Minority, the then AG was urged to prosecute him on some tax offenses because he was making too much noise but Dominic Ayine stood his grounds.

“He did not tell me but I was told by someone, I have respected him and taken a picture with him at my office and I celebrate him; we have maintained friendship since then”, he said on the floor of the House.

That moment when he said, political opponents should not be targeted; he has done demonstrating sincerity. “We are a political class that is the path we have chosen, we are not to cover crime but we have to protect each other for the good of democracy”.

“Ghanaians have told us something; if they are feed up with you, there is nothing that can be done. In 2000 election after former President John Kufour worn, some of us as student leaders were of the opinion that NDC will never come to power because it was devastating. But Within years, Ghanaians were fed-up with us, we have to eat our humble pie”, he added.

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The Ashanti Region Minority caucus in Ghana’s Parliament is demanding the arrest of perpetrators of violence at the just ended council of state election in the region.

Addressing the media in parliament at a press conference chairman of the caucus Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong noted that individuals behind this shameful act, including Zuba, must be arrested immediately and made to face the full rigors of the law, as Ghana is governed by laws, not thuggery and they demand justice, and demand it now.

They further demand a swift resumption of the Electoral Process, stating that the Electoral Commission (EC) must ensure that this election is concluded transparently so that the true choice of the people prevails.
“We will not allow intimidation to dictate election results in the Ashanti Region and call for total rejection of Zuba for Any Appointment in the Ashanti Region.

A man who orchestrates violence and disregards the rule of law has no place in leadership. His appointment to any position in the Ashanti Region would be a grave disservice to the people.”
They urged the President and all responsible authorities to reconsider and reject any attempt to offer Zuba any role in the region. Kumasi and the entire Ashanti Region deserve better.

The Minority also stated that the Ashanti Region has always been the stronghold of democracy and good governance in Ghana. “We will not allow the reckless and lawless behavior of a few individuals to tarnish our democratic credentials”.

They sent a clear and strong message to the Mahama administration saying: Ashanti Region will not bow to intimidation as the people of Ghana will resist any attempt to erode democracy through violent and lawless means.

They further added that at the time of this shocking attack, Nana Nkansah Boadu had secured 49 out of 86 votes, putting him in a commanding lead but realizing that their preferred candidate was losing Mr. Zuba and his thugs violently intervened, halting the democratic process and plunging the election into chaos.

“We will not sit idly, while the will of the people is subverted through violence and intimidation”, they added.

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A member of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Minority side Kwame Antwi Anyimadu said he overheard the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Sumana Bagbin giving directives for the Committee investigating the vetting chaos not to hold public hearing.

According to him he agrees with the directives of the Speaker and what the Committee is doing currently, the Committee is not conducting serious investigations, hence the reason he participated in the workings of the Committee once and later sought guidance from the leadership of the Minority.

At a press conference, he argued that, “if you call ten witnesses; according to the committee, twenty-five members have been identified and were to be invited. If all of them are to seat together and you call them one by one to speak to the hearing of the others, you are not conducting any investigation”.

Mr Anyimadu raised concerns with the manner the investigation is being conducted, stating that “the moment we take this as a public enquiry, any person, if you ask him to leave the committee room and go to the next room, he can go to the next room and watch television and observe whatever we are doing. The process of doing it is not the right thing. I have raised it and some of the members have also raised it”.

“We were not sure especially, when the Majority Leader has to come and testify before the Committee in public, I had to get up to seek clearance from the leadership of our caucus and we have to communicate to you that this is why you are not seeing us at the public hearing after our first appearance”.

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The Majority Chief Whip Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor when he appeared on Monday, February 10, 2025 before the Ad Hoc Committee investigating the chaos that occurred at the Appointment Committee said he is not proud of what occurred at the Appointment Committee sitting and takes full responsibility.

According to him others disagree that if punishment was supposed to be meted out it should not be him, but I agree in principle that you need to punish the leaders, he told the Committee.

He further told the Committee chairman Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah that consensus building failed for that night.

He also affirmed that if his counterpart was minded of his way of doing things that night, they would not have experienced the chaos, and insisted that ones they decided to disrupt and raise chairs, “what can I do, what could I have done?” He queried.

Mr. Dafeamekpor further indicated that there is a lot of learn from the public hearing of the Ad Hoc Committee and going forward Members of Parliament would be guided from whatever recommendations the Committee will give. “A lot of things need to be streamlined from now onwards”, he stated.

When the Chairman further enquire that if giving-in to the demand of the Minority side on the committee could have averted all these problems, he said “there is a reasonableness to everything; we are serving people, we had scheduled nominees for a week, it was no fault of theirs that the Wednesday, January 29, 2025, was truncated”, adding that the Wednesday program should not have affect those who were supposed to appear on Thursday, January 30, 2025. So if the Committee was adding on to their work, those originally slated for Thursday, needed to be attended to. “When you want to vary previous agreement, you do not go physical, rather we should engage” he told the Committee.

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Chairman of the Ad-hoc committee probing the vetting chaos, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah has cautioned the Minority Members of Parliament that the committee will invoke the constitutional provision or the standing orders of Parliament if they don’t come to testify on Monday, February 10, 2025.

The Minority MPs have boycotted the committee’s hearing, insisting that the hearing should be made in-camera and not a public one.

Speaking to journalists after the second day of hearing on Friday, the Ho West MP and Chairman of the Committee noted that he is yet to identify the reasons why the Minority MPs have failed to honour the Committee’s invite to testify despite the Speaker’s directive for investigations to proceed.

“We are waiting for them to testify. I’m not bias, we all see what we’ve done here and so I’m surprised that they say I’m bias. We’re waiting for them to testify on Monday, if they are not here on Monday, we will invoke the constitutional provision as well as the standing orders,” he said.

The Ho West MP dismissed claims by the Minority Caucus that he’s being prejudicial and bias in his work.

“I am surprised because he was here with us on the first day so I don’t know where the accusation of bias is coming from so maybe he has to identify where I was bias,” he added.

He further revealed that Atiwa East MP and a Minority member on the committee, Abena Osei-Asare was present at the Committee’s meeting on Thursday, February 6, 2025; so he’s surprised that the Minority MPs still did not appear to testify before the Committee.

He noted that the Committee will proceed with its hearing until the Speaker says otherwise.

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In a recent interview on TV3, the chairman of the committee investigating the chaos that erupted at the ministerial vetting, Emmanuel Bedzrah made startling revelations about the incident.

 The chairman disclosed that an individual, believed to be not a parliamentary staff member or a Member of Parliament (MP), was directly involved in the disruption that occurred during the vetting session.

According to the chairman, the individual in question was present at the vetting to support an MP who was undergoing the process: and “he was directly involved in the lifting of the table”.

Meanwhile, he emphasized that the individual has since been identified and is prepared to testify before the committee as part of the ongoing investigation.

Mr Bedzrah, however assured the public that the committee is committed to uncovering the full truth and ensuring accountability for those responsible for the chaos.

Further details are expected to emerge as the investigation progresses, with the committee poised to take decisive action based on the findings.

Immediate past Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Samuel Abu Jinapor has denied calling his colleague Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle as “daughter of murder” as making rounds on social media.

According to him anyone who follows his career and involvement in Ghanaian public life in all modesty will confirm that he does not speak in that nature, “the words which are being falsely attributed to me, they are not my words; I will never use such words, that is not the way I speak”.

In an interview on Wednesday, February 5, 2025, he pointed out that he does not know such words have been uttered; I found out this morning when this was trending in a video that was brought to my attention. “What I can say to that is it’s totally false, it cannot be correct”.

“Again, anyone who has followed my career will know Abu will not speak this way and I do not speak across the House when I am in Parliament. When I have anything to say, I catch the eye of the Speaker to speak; I did not follow the proceedings which emanated into this unfortunate statement.”

“I have huge respect for late former president Rawlings, anyone who knows me very well knows that, when he was alive, he took a lot of interest in me and I visited him multiple times.

Furthermore, when he passed, on the floor of Parliament in the previous parliament the one who read the tribute in memory of the former President Rawlings, Haruna Iddrisu then

Minority Leader that was the first time I spoke, I was then a first- timer, I was the one who contributed after the Minority Leader.”
When his children set up his foundation of tree planting, I was the guest of Honour; its on record what I said about the former president, I have a personal relation with former President Rawlings and respect the family particularly the daughter and my colleague Dr. Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings; I will not say such a thing, it will not even cross my mind, he added.

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John Dumelo, the Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon and a first timer in Ghana’s legislature has been deputy Minister –designate for Food and Agriculture while Alhassan Suyibu Suhuyini is also heading to Roads and Highways Ministry as deputy.

They are among host of others whose names the President John Dramani Mahama has submitted to the Parliament through the Speaker for prior approval.

The President has also nominated Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba as Minister of State, Public Sector Reforms.

See below the full list of deputy Ministerial nominees