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Bagbin's vetting was a joke - Attah Akyea
Audrey Agyiri-Inkoom, Ghanadot

Accra, Feb 12, Ghanadot - The outspoken Member of Parliament for the Akyem Abuakwa South Constituency, Samuel Attah Akyea has blasted the Appointments Committee, calling Wednesday night's under-thirty-minute vetting of Majority Leader Alban S.K Bagbin a joke.

Ahead of Wednesday 10th February 2009, vetting of the outgoing Majority Leader for the position of Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, there were high expectations from Ghanaians that the Nadowli West MP would be given the same dose of grilling he subjected past nominees to, during his days on the Appointments Committee.

But, in the name of a certain Convention, which requires members to go easy on leaders who have been nominated for Ministerial jobs, Chairman of the Committee Hon. Doe Adzaho discharged the Majority Leader without the much expected grilling that was to have characterized his vetting.

This development has angered a Member of the Committee; Samuel Attah Akyea who has called Wednesday night's public hearing an embarrassment, arguing it undermines the nation's constitution.

In an interview on Citi FM, Attah Akyea said, "I don’t want to think like a dinosaur, that convention should be tested. With the new democratic dispensation. What kind of convention is it that people would be prevented from talking, it undermines the very constitution.

"Our convention should be consistent with the constitution, because at the end of the day if there is a convention that when the majority leader is due for vetting no question should be asked we should have known, I didn’t know.

"I thought that anybody who is due for appointment by the president via parliament should be vetted. And the majority leader should not be an exception because there is no one constitution for so called elite in parliament and another constitution for those who don’t matter in parliament or outside parliament so for me I am embarrassed, what happened regarding Hon. Bagbin is very embarrassing. Because how can u gag people from asking questions.

When asked if he thinks he was gagged he added, "Precisely! I was over-ruled because I wanted to ask very serious questions about the issue of the ex-gratia and they said no, I shouldn’t ask those questions and that was the end of the matter. "

On Wednesday 10th February 2009, the sitting Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Doe Adzaho announced that he had done thorough background check on the Majority Leader and found nothing incriminating against his person.

But Hon. Attah Akyea said "The power grants checks of the chairman of the committee, how does it inform the public are we doing it for the chairman or the public? Don’t you think this exercise is for the public? The public is supposed to know the manner of man who is going to sit in that office.

"If you have a whole dossier on a man bogus who wants to know, keep your dossier, are we entertaining ourselves or we want to educate the public that is the main issue and I feel very disappointed about this matter. "

Ghanadot