Referring Afenyo-Markin to Privileges Committee is 'vindictive persecution' - Patricia Appiagyei
The Deputy Minority Leader, Patricia Appiagyei, has described the Speaker’s decision to refer the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, to the Privileges Committee of Parliament as a calculated attempt to gag the Minority Caucus and cause deep division among members.
She accused both the Speaker and the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, of scheming a coordinated campaign of intimidation, harassment, and institutional abuse to remove the Minority Leader from the ECOWAS Parliament.
She explained that the two removed Alexander Afenyo-Markin’s name from Ghana's delegation to ECOWAS Parliament without any consultation or seeking her consent.
“This is a cynical, diabolical, and constitutionally perverse scheme ever orchestrated within the precincts of Ghana’s Parliament,” she said, saying that the move had embarrassed Ghana before the community of West African nations.
Vindictive persecution
Speaking at a press conference on Friday in reaction to the Speaker's decision to refer Mr Afenyo-Markin to the Privileges Committee, Ms Appiagyei said, “Mahama Ayariga had the audacity to petition the Speaker to refer the Minority Leader to the Privileges Committee for performing his lawful duties as a sworn member and Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.”
“This is not parliamentary oversight. This is vindictive persecution as the timing is revealing. This petition came exactly one day after the Minority Leader led our side at the Appointments Committee to expose the NDC government’s dishonourable attempt to secure parliamentary vetting for the then acting Chief Justice nominee, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie.”
“This is retaliation, pure and simple, and the Speaker, rather than dismiss this absurd petition out of hand, has entertained it, dignified it with a ruling, and referred it to the Privileges Committee. This is not leadership. This is complicity,” she said.
On Thursday, the Speaker referred the Minority Leader to the Privileges Committee to determine whether his decision to attend a session in the ECOWAS Parliament constitutes contempt of Parliament.
The issue revolves around the parliamentary delegation to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament and Mr Afenyo-Makin’s failure to vacate his position and cease participation in the regional body’s proceedings.
Ms Appiagyei described the Speaker’s referral of the Minority Leader to the Privileges Committee as unlawful.
She said what was being witnessed was not parliamentary procedure but it is political persecution.
“It is not the enforcement of Standing Orders; it is the weaponisation of the Standing Orders.
“And it is not about upholding the dignity of Parliament, but it is about crushing a fearless opposition leader who has consistently stood between this nation and constitutional anarchy,” she said.
Coordinated campaign of intimidation
The Deputy Minority Leader said the Speaker’s ruling on Thursday to refer the Minority Leader to the Privileges Committee was the culmination of a coordinated campaign of intimidation, harassment and institutional abuse that started on July 22, 2025 when she was ambushed, without consultation or consent, into an illegal plot to remove “my Leader from Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.”
“Let me be abundantly clear: I protested, I objected, I refused, and I was ignored in the ambush on July 22,” she said.
She said on Tuesday, July 22, while the Minority Leader was unwell and receiving treatment, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, moved “stealthily and clandestinely” to amend Ghana’s ECOWAS delegation list.
She said his aim was surgical and sinister to remove Mr Afenyo-Markin’s name and insert her name in his place.
When objections were raised by the Minority Chief Whip and the MP for Bimbilla, the Speaker dismissed them without hesitation, declaring, “We are masters of our own rules. So, the resolution has been taken and then we will proceed on to the other business.”
‘I stood by my Leader’
Ms Appiagyei, who is the MP for Asokwa, said she was neither consulted nor did she consent to “this scheme”.
The moment she heard of the move, she acted decisively by writing to the Speaker on the same day- July 22.
“Respectfully, I wish to place on record that I was neither consulted nor did I give my consent to be considered as a replacement for the Minority Leader… At no point have I expressed any intention to replace my Leader, and I am particularly concerned that this development appears to be a calculated effort to cause division between myself and my Leader,” she quoted her letter to the Speaker.
Describing the move as procedural impropriety and deeply troubling, Ms Appiagyei said she demanded that the resolution be stayed and rescinded, warning that proceeding would bring public embarrassment to the institution of Ghana’s Parliament.
“I stood by my Leader then. I stand by him now. And I will stand by him tomorrow,” she said.
Describing the Speaker’s reply, dated July 25, 2025, as dishonest as it was dismissive, she said Mr Bagbin acknowledged her concerns but proceeded to ignore every substantive point she had raised.
She said the Speaker defended a flawed process and justified an action taken without consultation.
Accusing the Speaker of asserting that Parliament was not procedurally bound to secure the prior consent of nominees, she considered the Speaker’s action as not being parliamentary procedure.
“This is parliamentary dictatorship. Most egregiously, despite my written refusal, the Speaker sent a formal letter to the ECOWAS Parliament on July, 25 2025, deliberately including my name and excluding the Minority Leader’s.
“This was not an administrative error. It was diplomatic orchestration,” she said.
Unilateral decision
Reacting, Ms Appiagyei said she wrote again on August 4, 2025, demanding immediate rectification.
“I emphasised that the decision was a unilateral imposition by the Majority, that it usurped the Minority’s right to nominate our own representatives and that it created a troubling precedent.
“I urged the Speaker not to legitimise this constitutional travesty but I was ignored again,” she said.
ECOWAS Parliament rebukes Ghana
She pointed out that the consequences were swift and humiliating as on September 8, 2025, the ECOWAS Parliament, through its Speaker, Memounatou Ibrahima, wrote formally to Speaker Bagbin, announcing a Parliamentary diplomacy mission to Accra to address Ghana’s flagrant violation of Article 18 of the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/12/16.
Ms Appiagyei said when the Majority Leader realised the gravity of the illegality, he scrambled to contain the damage.
On September 25, 2025, she said Mr Ayariga wrote to ECOWAS, asking that only four nominees be sworn in and promising to address any outstanding issues on resumption from recess.
“This was an involuntary confession that the Speaker’s actions were unlawful and required correction,” she said.
ECOWAS’s reply to the September 2025 letter, signed by Acting Secretary-General Mr K. Bertin Some, diplomatically rejected the attempt to normalise the illegality, stating that it would have been preferable that “your letter was signed by your Speaker or the Deputy Speaker”.
“Parliament’s concern is to ensure a consensual list that complies with Article 18 of the Supplementary Act,” she quoted the letter from ECOWAS as saying.
Clear legal architecture
Ms Appiagyei drew the Speaker and the Majority Leader’s attention to the fact that their action violated Article 18.2 of the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/12/16.
The Act provides that “A Representative shall be elected for a period of four years from the date of the inauguration of the Parliament by the Chairman of Authority. Their mandate shall end on the last day of the legislature.”
She explained that Article 18.3 defined the exclusive grounds on which a representative’s seat might become vacant, such as death, written resignation, certified incapacity, resignation due to incompatibility or removal by ECOWAS Parliament.
“Afenyo-Markin falls under none of these categories. He has not died, he has not resigned, nor incapacitated. There has been no removal by ECOWAS Parliament.
“Yet the Speaker and Majority Leader proceeded to remove him in flagrant violation of binding regional law, which under Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution takes precedence over domestic parliamentary resolutions,” she said.
