The Majority Chief Whip of Parliament, Nelson-Rockson Dafeamekpor, believes that a change of venue could have averted the chaos that occurred on January 30 during the Appointments Committee’s proceedings.
Speaking before the ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the incident, the MP recounted his experience on the day of the chaos and suggested that, in similar circumstances in the future, a swift change of venue should be prioritised to prevent such events from occurring again.
"I think the prudent thing that should be considered by any chairman confronted with a similar situation in the future is to change the venue," he said.
"That Thursday, if we had moved to the Speaker's conference room, for instance, I am sure that by the time we had relocated, order would have been restored. I don’t think they would have carried the chaotic scenes to the new committee room," he said.
Mr Dafeamekpor added, "So, a change of venue when confronted with such matters is also very important."
The chaos on January 30 occurred due to a misunderstanding between the minority and majority members of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, which was tasked with vetting the new government’s ministerial nominees.
The incident began when the minority side complained about fatigue and proposed the postponement of the vetting exercise.
However, the majority insisted that there had been an earlier agreement to complete all vetting proceedings that day, and thus the proposal for postponement was not acceptable.
The verbal exchanges soon escalated into a physical confrontation between the MPs, resulting in the destruction of tables, chairs, and microphones in the vetting room.
The committee, after gathering evidence from the public hearing, will present its findings to the Speaker of the House, Alban Bagbin, who will decide on the next course of action.
Meanwhile, the minority in Parliament boycotted the committee's hearing last Friday and has petitioned the Speaker, accusing the committee chair of bias and demanding his recusal.
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