….As Speaker slaps Afenyo-Markin with contempt

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has referred the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, to the powerful Privileges Committee for contempt of Parliament over his alleged refusal to vacate his seat in the ECOWAS Parliament.

A date has yet to be scheduled for the hearing, which will be chaired by Bernard Ahiafor, who also serves as the First Deputy Speaker, thereby adding significant weight to the impending inquiry.

The debate over who represents the minority side in the Ghanaian Parliament within the sub-regional legislative body has persisted since July this year, with Patricia Appiagyei, the Deputy Minority Leader, listed to replace Afenyo-Markin, but she declined.

The Speaker’s move stems from the MP’s alleged persistent disregard for a formal parliamentary decision that removed him from the country’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.

The verdict was delivered in the House yesterday, 27 November 2025, by the Speaker.

The committee’s mandate is judicial in nature, requiring it to thoroughly investigate the facts, hear evidence from all parties, including the Minority Leader, and then present a report with its recommendations to Parliament’s plenary session.

The citation effectively accuses Mr Afenyo-Markin of undermining the authority and mandate of the House by acting against an official institutional directive.

The core of the issue revolves around the parliamentary delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament.

The act of contempt centres entirely on the MP’s purported failure to vacate his position and cease participation in the regional body’s proceedings.

Contempt of Parliament, as defined under Article 117 of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, includes any act or omission that obstructs, impedes, or affronts the dignity of the House or its committees.

By allegedly ignoring the House’s decision, the Minority Leader has triggered one of the most serious disciplinary procedures available to the Speaker.

The future of the Minority Leader now depends on the Privileges Committee, which is responsible for examining allegations of contempt and breaches of parliamentary privilege.

In July this year, the Deputy Minority Leader, Patricia Appiagyei, declined her inclusion in Ghana’s reconstituted delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, describing the move as procedurally irregular, politically damaging, and lacking consultation.

In a letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament on Monday, July 22, 2025, she objected to her nomination as a replacement for the Minority Leader, who is currently serving a valid term as a Deputy Speaker in the ECOWAS Parliament.

“I was neither consulted nor did I give my consent to be considered as a replacement for the Minority Leader,” Appiagyei stated.

 “At no point have I expressed any intention to replace my Leader, and I am particularly concerned that this development appears to be a calculated effort to cause division between myself and my Leader.”

Her comments follow the House’s approval of a reshuffled ECOWAS delegation earlier in the day, which controversially replaced Afenyo-Markin with Appiagyei. The changes also included the appointment of Deputy Majority Leader George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan to succeed Afenyo-Markin as Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.

Appiagyei, however, argued that Afenyo-Markin’s removal is both unjustified and unlawful. Citing ECOWAS rules, she emphasized that members of the regional parliament serve fixed four-year terms and can only be removed under specific circumstances, such as resignation, appointment to executive office, or disqualification—none of which apply in Afenyo-Markin’s case.

“Any attempt to replace him… violates ECOWAS statutes,” she wrote, adding that the move also goes against internal parliamentary practices and risks being rejected by the ECOWAS Parliament itself.

She further criticised the Majority side’s handling of the issue, accusing them of bypassing established procedures and creating unnecessary political tension.

“This action… was taken in the absence of my good self and the Minority Leader,” she said. “The proposal was made by the Majority Leader without prior consultation.”

While acknowledging the importance of gender representation in regional institutions, Appiagyei warned against using it as a pretext for arbitrary political decisions. “True inclusion must be built on transparent dialogue and not imposed at the expense of established norms,” she said.

She concluded by formally declining the nomination and urged the Speaker and Clerk of Parliament not to inform the ECOWAS Parliament of her inclusion. She also called for the original Minority Caucus nominees Afenyo-Markin, Kwame Anyimadu Antwi, and Bryan Acheampong to be maintained.

The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, recently criticised the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, over the recent chaotic scenes recorded in parliament.

Speaking at the launch of a scholarship scheme for Members of Parliament, the Speaker delivered a detailed and pointed clarification, urging MPs and the public to rely on the factual record rather than on popular narratives, following days of escalating tension.

Speaker Bagbin said the repeated references to his legacy were not only inaccurate but unfair, especially coming from those who he believed knew the truth.

“You’ve been told often, and sometimes I expect some of you who experience it to respond, but you don’t. And you know, silence means consent. What the minority leader is doing now is not what I did. He has copiously referred to you people that he took inspiration from my record. Please go and read my record.”

He emphasised that his approach in Parliament was marked by restraint, calculation, and sensitivity to the political climate.

“I never on the floor raised my voice. I never on the floor tried to show grandeur on the floor. No. I studied the ecology, the political environment. I tested the pulse of the people, and you play along with that. I didn’t do what you are doing. Please, everybody can go and read.”

To further set the record straight, Speaker Bagbin revisited the only moment in his parliamentary career when he openly protested against the Speaker at the time, the late Peter Ala Adjetey.

“Only one occasion when the Right Honourable Peter Adjetey came and read a statement attacking me personally, that I rose up to say my side of the story. And he would not allow me to do so. My very good friend Papa Akomah, who was the Majority Leader then, stood up and said once he mentioned me specifically, by our Standing Orders, I have the right of reply. And he shouted at him and prevented him and ordered him to sit down.”

He also recounted how the confrontation forced him to temporarily leave the Chamber in frustration.

“And that day I took my books and stormed to my office. My colleagues did not follow me. They continued with the work of Parliament. It was in my office that the then few cameras, led by GTV, questioned why I moved out. And I gave them my side of the story.”

The incident, he noted, quickly captured nationwide attention and prompted a private engagement between him and Mr Adjetey.

“I said, if this is how the Speaker was going to go about things on the floor of Parliament, I would go after him. That caught the attention of the whole nation. That is the only instance. And later, when I met him and narrated that he accused me without basis, he pleaded with me to rather tone down my response, which was meaningless. It’s also captured in the official report.”

Speaker Bagbin explained that this single episode has been mischaracterised over the years and wrongly used to draw parallels with present-day events.

“I’m saying this because this has been referred to many times by many people that I behaved the same way when I was Minority Leader. If I did, we could have turned things around within two years, and we almost won the 2004 elections. And these young MPs, the Minister for Education and his team, joined us in 2005. Please, the opportunity is now. And that is why I am saying this.”

His comments come against the backdrop of a year marked by tense and contentious incidents in Parliament, both on the floor and at committee levels. Among the most notable were the ministerial vettings of Kwabena Mintah Akandoh and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

The latest was the vetting of Chief Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, during which the committee spent nearly three hours debating the minority leader’s opening remarks, a debate the majority leader insisted amounted to an attack on the nominee.

The post Patricia Appiagyei’s pushback intensifies rift over ECOWAS Parliament appeared first on The Herald ghana.

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