May the sins of Okudzeto Ablakwa be on your heads – Afenyo-Markin tells Majority

“Bring me water, I need proper water. We wash our hands off Okudzeto Ablakwa. We are not part of the sins he has committed. May all his sins be upon you. All the Airport Hills sins are on your heads.“

These strong words came from the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin in Parliament on Tuesday, February 4 during a debate for the approval of the Minister-designate of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

After a heated debate, Ablakwa was approved by majority decision, the same as the Minister-designate for Communications, Digitalisation, and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George.

Contention
During the vetting of the two, the Minority members on the Appointments Committee insisted that the two nominees provide the committee with certain documents for scrutiny before they would agree for an approval by consensus.

However, at the debate on the floor of the House on Tuesday, Afenyo-Markin insisted that those documents had not been provided for which reason they demanded a secret ballot on the nominees.
The chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor insisted that the committee had received the said documents from the two, but Afenyo-Markin would not agree.

As the disagreement heated up in Parliament, Sam George put up a statement on his Facebook page: “For the avoidance of any doubt and to settle any controversy, yesterday, I submitted to the Appointments Committee all the documents required of me, and more.”

Minority Leader fires again
Afenyo-Markin again said of Ablakwa, “This is the person who has taken many public officials to the cleaners and he is refusing to submit himself to the same scrutiny by Parliament.”

As a result, Afenyo-Markin declared that the minority caucus would abstain from voting on their approval, a development that led to Parliament approving the nominees by majority decision.