First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, has referred Minority Leader Osahen Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin to the Committee on Privileges and Immunities after the Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, accused him of contempt over claims of corruption and irregularities in the ongoing recruitment into the country’s internal security services.
The development followed heated exchanges in the House, triggered by statements the Minority Leader made during Friday’s State of the Nation Address. Afenyo-Markin had described the recruitment exercise as “scandalous,” with “corruption looming” and warning that “people will go to prison.”
Rising on a point of order, Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak invoked Standing Orders 31 (e) and (f), which define contempt of Parliament to include “any act or conduct calculated or intended to deceive Parliament or a committee” and “submission of false, perverted, misleading, distorted, fabricated or scandalous statement in Parliament.”
“On Friday, during the State of the Nation Address, the Minority Leader got up here when the whole world was listening to us to say categorically that the current internal security recruitment is scandalous. There’s corruption looming. People will go to prison,” the Minister stated.
He urged the House to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee, where Afenyo-Markin would have “ample time and opportunity to provide all his allegations” and where government side would “meet him there with our facts.”
Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga supported the referral, describing the Minority’s claims as an attempt by the opposition to create a scandal for the government that would not be tolerated.
He called for the hearing to be opened to the public.
In response, Afenyo-Markin urged caution and suggested the matter be discussed at conclave, saying repeatedly, “Honourable Minister of Interior, I am not too sure you want us to pursue this matter… because you and I know what we know.”
He referenced the play The Gods Are Not to Blame, advising that “before the rotten tooth is pulled out, the mouth must chew with caution,” and appealed to the presiding officer to suspend sitting for private discussions on the matter.
He added that he remained open to a public hearing at the committee if a conclave was not acceptable. First Deputy Speaker Bernard Ahiafor, who was in the Chair, granted the Minister’s request and formally referred the matter to the Committee on Privileges and Immunities.
The referral comes amid growing public interest in the security recruitment exercise, which the Interior Ministry has defended as a transparent, merit-based online system designed to eliminate middlemen and corruption.
The Ministry has repeatedly stated that the process is overseen by the individual security agencies themselves, with the Ministry providing only supervisory oversight, and that arrests have already been made for attempted manipulation.
Afenyo-Markin had earlier raised concerns about the involvement of a private IT firm in developing the AI-powered aptitude testing platform and alleged that some applicants were spending beyond their means, fuelling perceptions of irregularities.
The Privileges Committee, chaired by the First Deputy Speaker, is now expected to investigate whether the Minority Leader’s statements on the floor constituted a breach of parliamentary privilege or contempt.