Ghana’s Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, has expressed regret over the chaos that erupted during a vetting session in Parliament, nearly leading to physical altercations between the Minority and Majority sides.
Speaking on Bullet TV’s Morning Target on Monday, 10 February 2025, Mr Annoh-Dompreh admitted his role in the disorder but maintained that certain actions were necessary.
“We’ve apologised for it; it’s not something we are proud of as young men who have been given the opportunity to serve our people,” he said in a one-on-one interview with Nana Yaw Fianko, who co-hosts the show with Seli Acolatse Apaloo.
He clarified: “As for telling my people to defend themselves, I have no regrets, but that particular incident where it degenerated and was almost getting extremely physical, I totally regret it. It’s something I’m not proud of and I wish it never happened.”
Explaining the circumstances that led to the commotion, the Nsawam-Adogyiri MP said that the Minority had agreed to vet three nominees on the night in question.
However, after completing their assessment of these individuals, the Majority introduced additional candidates for vetting.
“We had agreed a day before to vet three of the nominees and we had dispensed of these three. Then suddenly, they brought another person. It was getting to 11 PM, we were tired. So we told them this is not the agreement,” he recounted.
Despite their exhaustion, he said the Minority compromised and vetted a fourth nominee, only for the Majority to introduce a fifth candidate at the late hour.
“We also have a responsibility as a Minority to do professional and proper work. We can’t just allow people to come and pass through and not ask them all the good questions. We were tired and that was not the agreement,” he stated.
He said when the Minority requested a private discussion, or conclave, to resolve the impasse, they were met with resistance.
“We told the chair, ‘Chair, we need to go into conclave,’ and he said, ‘They are the Majority, we can go to hell, they are going ahead to do it,’” Annoh-Dompreh revealed.
According to the Minority Chief Whip, the situation escalated after a member from the Majority side crossed the floor into the Minority’s section, leading to heightened tensions.
“What created the chaos was one of our colleagues – I think the chief on the other side – moved to our side. He crossed the table and came to our side, and that was what degenerated the matter,” he said.
Despite the altercation, Mr Annoh-Dompreh maintained that the Minority’s actions were driven by the need to uphold due process in vetting government appointees.
“We never wanted it to degenerate to that extent. All we wanted was to ensure the vetting didn’t go on and we could have a proper vetting the next day,” he insisted.
