Vetting chaos: Marshall of Parliament recounts what transpired

Marshall of Parliament, Lt. Col. Samuel Kofi Ofosu (Rtd) has narrated from his perspective what transpired on the night of Thursday, January 30, 2025 during the ministerial vetting.

Giving his testimony before the Adhoc Committee probing the vetting chaos, Lt. Col. Owusu recounted that minutes before the chaos ensued, he was on the corridor managing the crowd and visitors who came with the ministerial nominees.

He said the crowd and visitors which came along with the nominees were “too many than we could handle.”

While controlling the crowd on the corridor, Col. Kofi Owusu said he overheard shouts and altercations from the Committee room and quickly rushed in.

Upon his arrival, he saw two MPs in a tense confrontation with each other and managed to separate them.

“That was when I heard shouts and altercations in the committee room so I quickly rushed in to find out what was going on. When I came, I realized there were two honourable members almost at each other’s throat so I quickly move from that side pass my way through the crowd and then came in to settle them and try to push one honourable member to where his seat was,” he recalled on Friday, February 7, 2025.

Just before he could escort one of the ‘fighting’ MPs to his seat, the Marshall of Parliament told the Committee that he saw MPs raising chairs on the table used for the vetting, while some MPs were forcibly dragging the tables and removed the legs of one of the tables.

Sensing the chaotic environment, Col. Kofi Ofosu said he decided to get close to the Chairman of the Committee and offered protection from any unforeseen harm.

“By the time we got there, we realize there is a chair on the table and other members were on their feet, others pushing the table and pulling the table so I went behind the Chairman to offer protection for him.”

In the midst of the chaos, he recounted that he sighted the leaders of the Majority and Minority caucuses engaging in a conversation to restore calm.

According to him, after the conversation between the two leaders, the Majority leader returned to address the committee on the way forward.

However, the microphones had been damaged due to the chaos which ensued, hence sitting could not proceed and had to be adjourned.

Lt. Col. Samuel Kofi Ofosu said MPs were then escorted from the Chamber to their offices.

“Then the minority leader and majority leader started having a conversation outside for further consultation and by the time they came back the table at that corner had been lifted, we tried to help it down but before we realize it had been turned to the side and the legs were forcibly removed.

“So, that table were lifted outside and the majority leader came in, try to cool down tempers, he could not talk into the console because some of them were damaged.

“We quickly advised him that the consoles are not working and he mentioned that sitting cannot go on because the consoles were not working as the media had to capture everything that the committee will say.

“So, we had to adjourn for the next day and that was the only time we had to escort members out of the Chamber,” he added.

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