Mahama Ayariga, the Majority Leader and Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, has disclosed his unsuccessful attempts to mediate before the violent disruptions that occurred during the ministerial vetting on Thursday, January 30.
In testimony before Parliament’s Special Committee investigating the incident, Ayariga explained that he had reached out to both Majority and Minority committee members in an effort to find common ground, but neither side was willing to compromise.
The conflict arose when the Majority caucus proceeded with the vetting session despite the Minority’s request to reschedule it to Friday, January 31.
The refusal to delay the session escalated tensions, resulting in the vandalization of parliamentary property, including microphones and tables.
Ayariga further explained that the nominees, along with their families and traditional leaders, had arrived early in the day and were expected to remain in Parliament until late evening, making it impractical to ask them to leave and return the following day.
“I spoke to both sides and tried to convince them but each side was adamant and I think the pressure was coming from the fact that the nominees had on the record were slated for that day and they had come there with their families and traditional leaders and so members of the Majority side were having it difficult that what do we do with these people when they have sat here since morning and we tell them to go back and so that was the difficulty.
“The nominees were here with their families and their chiefs and to tell them to go and come back the next day was going to be a major inconvenience and not because they had the numbers.”
