The calm and serene atmosphere in the vetting room quickly became tensed and heated when Ahiafor was accused by Afenyo-Markin of proceeding in bad faith, following a 5-minute recess taken by the committee.
The misunderstanding began when Afenyo-Markin took the floor to give his remarks.
However, he was sharply interrupted and prevented by Ahiafor, who told him to wait for his turn to speak, as another member, Mahama Shaibu was already addressing the committee.
Afenyo-Markin, who also serves as the Minority Leader and Member of Parliament of Effutu, was insistent on speaking, despite being told to wait for his turn, an effort by the Chairman to maintain decorum at the committee.
To assert his authority in the room, the Chairman said, “Honorable Ranking and Minority Leader, you do not have the floor. You don’t have the floor now; allow Honorable Mahama Shaibu to conclude, then I can give you the floor,” raising his voice at Afenyo-Markin, attempting to silence him.
Offended by the Chairman’s attitude, Afenyo-Markin also raised his voice in return, warning Ahiafor not to raise his voice at him.
“Chairman, don’t raise your voice. You suspended sitting for five minutes and called me for a discussion. I told you I was having a discussion with my caucus. We didn’t spend more than 5 minutes. Chairman, let’s operate in good faith. You had called me and I said ‘give me a moment, I will join you’, then the next moment you go ahead and start.
“Chairman, I want to register this protest that you have proceeded in bad faith. It is not the understanding we had. We got to a point where I was responding to a point of order where you came in rudely to say that you have ruled,” Afenyo-Markin said amid shouts of 'ei, ei, ei,' from the members, calling for him to withdraw his word.
Ahiafor once again sharply interjected Afenyo-Markin over his claims, urging him to refer to and be guided by the rules of the committee, which do not permit the usage of certain language, such as rudely.
In a high tone, he said, “Honorable member, you could be guided by the rules that in this House, you don’t use insulting, disparaging and abusive language…”
Unperturbed by Ahiafor’s words, Afenyo-Markin interjected again, saying, “Chairman, bring your voice down, bring your voice down. Bring down your voice, you are raising it. Bring down your voice.”
Watch the heated moment below:
