Appointments C’ttee chair abruptly terminates vetting of Deputy AG nominee

The vetting of the Deputy Minister nominee for Justice and Attorney General, Dr Justice Srem-Sai, ended abruptly after a disagreement between the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, and the Minority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

What began as a routine question about his culture took a tense turn when the conversation shifted from routine questioning to a cultural matter.

This occurred when the Minority leader asked the nominee to display a cultural dance from his heritage.

This compelled the Chairman to overrule the question posed to the nominee by the Minority leader.

“Honorable nominee the question is over ruled, you are not going to answer that question,” the Chairman overruled.

The Minority leader then countered the Chairman’s action, terming it as “whimsical” and “capricious”.

“Chairman, if you decide to be whimsical and capricious, it will not advance the work of this committee. Apart from the constitutional issues involved, it is also about our culture, we have had nominees speaking their dialect here,” the Minority leader remarked.

“Honorable Minority Leader, I take offence from the fact that you are saying that I am being whimsical and capricious, so I will urge upon you to withdraw those words you used,” Mr Ahiafor said.

Afenyo-Markin remained adamant on his decision not to withdraw his remarks.

“Chairman, I will not withdraw, you were whimsical and capricious in the way you over ruled my question,” he insisted

“You will not demonstrate any dance! This is not a demonstration forum, this is the Appointments Committee. So I insist that you withdraw the word that I am being whimsical and capricious,” the Chairman stated.

Afenyo-Markin further described the action of the Chairman as a “rude” one which forced the Chairman to end the vetting process of the nominee abruptly.

“Chairman, I will not withdraw, I am sorry, I will not withdraw, you rudely over ruled me,” Afenyo-Markin said

“Well, to demonstrate to you that I am the chairman of this particular committee, that may be your last question,” Mr Ahiafor concluded.

In response to the Chairman’s decision to terminate the vetting of the nominee, the Minority leader announced a rejection of the nominee’s nomination and also a boycott of the rest of the day’s vetting.

Source: myjoyonline.com