Source: Onuaonline.com
Chairman of the special committee investigating the vetting chaos that ensued in Parliament, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, has clarified that the Speaker of Parliament did not order his team to discontinue its hearing on Wednesday.
According to him, his interaction with the Speaker after suspending the sitting revealed that the communication that was given to him to suspend the sitting stemmed from the Minority’s quarters and not the Speaker.
During the sitting of the special committee on Wednesday, February 05, 2025, the Chairman, Mr. Bedzrah, suspended the hearing indefinitely.
He told the public that the Speaker had communicated to him through the Clerk of Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, to halt the sitting until further directives have been provided.
But the Chairman, speaking on TV3′ BigIssue on NewDay Thursday, February 06, 2025, explained that the Minority orchestrated the development without the knowledge of the Speaker.
“I called the Majority Leader and met with him, along with other leaders, including the two deputies, the Clerk himself, and my committee members. I asked them what the problem was,” Bedzrah recounted.
“Then the Minority Leader told me that before the Speaker made his ruling to suspend the suspension, they had met with him, and he had pleaded for the committee sitting to be suspended. So, when we went on air, they were confused,” Bedzrah explained.
The Ho West Member of Parliament further clarified that “I called the Speaker, and he made it clear that he did not instruct us to stop. If he had wanted the hearing to be suspended, he would have said so when delivering his judgment. Instead, he had ruled that the Committee should continue its work and present its report.”
He also disclosed that the Clerk called him later to inform him to resume the hearing. Meanwhile, the Committee is set to continue its hearing on Friday, February 7, 2025.
“We will hold a press conference today to inform Ghanaians about the resumption of our work. I am confident that tomorrow (Friday), we will proceed with the first phase—a public hearing for witness testimonies.
“The second phase will be an in-camera hearing for those directly involved in the incident. We will present them with video evidence before compiling our report for Parliament,” he added.
Source: www.onuaonline.com
