Ayariga Suppressing Legitimate Dissent

The vetting of a Chief Justice nominee is supposed to be one of the most sacred duties of Parliament.

It is a solemn constitutional exercise that must be undertaken with maturity, mutual respect, and legal sobriety. Yet, what transpired in Parliament during the vetting of Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie was an unmitigated disgrace to parliamentary ethics and democratic civility.

The conduct of the Majority Leader, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, was unbecoming of his high office. It was also a crude attempt to suppress legitimate dissent, intimidate the Minority, and compromise the constitutional sanctity of the vetting process.

From the very moment the vetting began, the atmosphere in the chamber was poisoned by needless interjections and unprovoked objections from Mahama Ayariga. These objections served no procedural purpose except to obstruct the Minority Leader, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, from making his lawful and reasoned opening remarks.

Instead of allowing the Minority Leader to articulate his caucus’s constitutional concerns about the propriety of the vetting process, Ayariga resorted to theatrical interruptions, questioning language and phrases that clearly fell within the boundaries of parliamentary privilege.

When Afenyo-Markin referred to Justice Baffoe-Bonnie as a “disputed nominee,” the Majority Leader leapt to his feet in dramatic indignation. He raised objections that were legally baseless and procedurally unnecessary.

The term “disputed” is neither defamatory nor unparliamentary. It is a factual description of a nominee whose appointment has become the subject of national controversy and legal challenge.

Parliamentary proceedings are meant to accommodate such language, language that captures political reality without breaching decorum.

To attempt to censor that expression was to attempt to gag the truth.

What made the Majority Leader’s conduct even more disturbing was his deliberate attempt to use his numerical advantage to bully the Minority Leader and silence dissent. Mahama Ayariga appeared less interested in upholding the Standing Orders than in flexing the muscle of the Majority caucus, weaponizing numbers to drown out argument.

This majoritarian arrogance, the idea that numbers can substitute for logic, is a grave threat to parliamentary democracy. The legitimacy of Parliament does not lie in who has more votes, but in who has more respect for the rule of law.

When numbers are used as tools of intimidation rather than instruments of consensus, Parliament ceases to be a deliberative body and becomes a tyranny of the majority.

Under Article 103 of the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament, committees are enjoined to conduct their business with openness and respect for diverse perspectives.

The Majority Leader’s attempt to silence the Minority Leader was, therefore, not only an abuse of procedure but also a breach of the spirit of parliamentary democracy. Parliament is not a chamber of conformity. It is an arena of debate, deliberation, and dissent.

Mahama Ayariga’s conduct today reflected the opposite — an authoritarian impulse to dominate discussion through noise, not reason.

Hon. Afenyo-Markin’s position was grounded in constitutional prudence and principle. His argument, that proceeding with the vetting while the removal of the former Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Tokornoo, remains the subject of a constitutional dispute, is a sound one.

It is founded on the doctrine of constitutional propriety, which requires state institutions to act with restraint when legality is under question. What the Minority Leader articulated was not political mischief. It was legal wisdom.

He was right to insist that Parliament must not be seen to endorse a process that may later be declared unconstitutional.

The Majority Leader’s refusal to allow such an argument to stand unchallenged exposes a worrying trend — a ruling side of Parliament increasingly intolerant of dissent and allergic to accountability.

Instead of engaging the Minority Leader’s reasoning, Ayariga chose to weaponize parliamentary standing orders to create chaos and confusion.

Such conduct weakens the image of Parliament and erodes public confidence in its impartiality. The Appointments Committee is not a battlefield for partisan supremacy. It is a constitutional tribunal for the defense of institutional integrity.

Faced with such blatant obstruction and bad faith, the Minority’s decision to stage a walkout was not an act of irresponsibility but an act of conscience. It was a principled protest and a moral declaration that the Minority will not participate in a process that violates both the letter and the spirit of the Constitution.

Walking out was, in this context, a higher form of democratic engagement — a reminder that silence in the face of illegality is complicity.

The Minority caucus deserves commendation for its courage and restraint. In an environment charged with political hostility, they chose the path of dignity over confrontation and principle over participation.

They demonstrated that legitimacy in governance is not a function of numbers but of moral and constitutional integrity.

Mahama Ayariga, as Majority Leader, ought to have known better. His role is not to act as the attack dog of the Executive but as the guardian of parliamentary order.

To reduce his office to a tool for silencing dissent is to desecrate the very authority he occupies. Leadership in Parliament demands maturity, tolerance, and constitutional fidelity, not arrogance clothed in procedural technicalities.

The events of today must serve as a reminder that democracy thrives not on unanimity but on the respectful clash of ideas.

The Majority Leader’s conduct was a stain on parliamentary integrity. The Minority Leader’s response was a defense of constitutional honour.

History will record that when others chose convenience, Afenyo-Markin and his caucus chose conscience.

The Minority’s walkout was that moral statement — a rejection of illegitimacy and a salute to principle.

I salute you Hon. Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin and the entire Minority caucus!

 

By Akaneweo Kabiru Abdul

EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer is an aspiring Policy Analyst, Geopolitics Enthusiast, Pan-Africanist and Anti-Corruption Crusader