The Minister-Designate for Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovation, Sam Nartey George, has been forced by Chairman of the Vetting Committee Richard Ahiafor to withdraw comments he made that were deemed unparliamentary.
The nominee caused the Chair to immediately issue the order after he had said that the Committee should be used to whitewash former President Akufo-Addo.For more than an hour, Minority Leader and Ranking on the Committee, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has been presenting to the nominee several social media posts he made about the former leader.
He had in the past suggested that the former president was complicit in illegal mining activities because he failed to deal with his appointees and even campaigned for some of them to be elected as members of Parliament.
In the process, the nominee asked that the committee should not be used to whitewash the former leader because the Ghanaian people had given a clear verdict about his performance.
Samuel Nartey George, after questioning why he was asked to withdraw, withdrew the comments, stating that he did so out of respect he had for the chairman.
“My understanding was that the President at the time was the leader of the NPP per your constitution. He was the leader of the party. We all saw or listened to the recording of the then Minister for Environment, Science, and Technology and the then Vice Chairman of your Central Region party, where he said you needed to do galamsey because the sorry needed money. The party that needed money was the NPP, and President Akufo-Addo was the leader of the NPP.”
He then responded to another question, saying, “Mr. Chairman, let me plead with you, this committee should not be used to whitewash the image of President Akufo-Addo. We know him. The people of Ghana passed a verdict. Let’s leave it at that.”
After a few banters and reactions from the minority side of the committee and a directive from the chairman, he finally withdrew the word “this committee should be used to whitewash the image of Akufo-Addo” on grounds that it was unparliamentary.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
