Member of Parliament for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor, has disclosed that the exit of the minority from parliament over the approval of the four remaining deputy minister designates was a political decision.

According to him, it wasn’t their intention to walk out on the nominees. That notwithstanding, he explained that the approval of Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, Deputy Minister-Designate for Local Government, was “non-negotiable”.

His comments follow the minority exit in parliament over the approval of the final four batch of ministerial designates.

Mr Dafeamekpor revealed that the vetting “didn’t go down well with” the minority, despite plea for re-vetting.

“That request was denied flatly by the majority side; they chair the committee. So, the minority leader had to move that if this was the situation… all the four persons vetted that day, a separate report should be prepared on them.

“More importantly, we were not against Asonaba Dapaah and the others; but as a political party, we were against the nomination of the Techiman South MP. So, that was a political decision we had taken, that as for that, we will not participate; we won’t even touch him with a ten-foot pole. He’s like a hot potato because we are litigating with him in court over that matter. So, we could not be seen to be participating in approving him, we will be concretising his position in government”.

Absence of Minority in Parliament

Touching on the Majority leader’s assertion that the minority should have been present during the vetting as they had been informed weeks ahead, Mr Dafeamekpor explained that, the Majority leader himself wasn’t available on the day.

He further justified their absence by insisting that they were offered transportation by parliament to visit their constituency for the ttree planting exercise.

“The majority leader may have a point but he wasn’t available and he has been teaching us that we are bound by the collective decision of the House. He was bereaved, so on that Thursday, he had gone to Kumasi. In his stead, the deputy majority leader handled business.

“So, every decision that the Speaker took, he didn’t take it in his singular capacity; he took it in consultation with leadership. It was so official that the clerk had to give members T and T to travel to the constituency to go and participate in the program. So, the Majority leader got it wrong. In his absence, it didn’t mean that the Speaker didn’t consult”.

Appointment Committee exempted from tree planting exercise

Majority Leader, Joseph Osei Owusu, had earlier revealed that Members of the Committee were exempted from the tree planting exercise.

According to him, “the Committee agreed to sit notwithstanding the said holiday”. Additionally, he revealed that both sides of the House agreed to be present.

“Around 7:30 the Deputy Ranking Member of the committee called me and said that he has heard that we have decided to sit on Friday and I said yes… and we all agreed to sit and he said the Minority Leader, that is the Ranking Member, told him that he had told me not to sit.

“And I said yes, he has suggested that Mr Speaker has granted a holiday therefore, we should not sit. But the Majority said no in his presence that we are exempted, and the committee itself decided that we will sit”.