Referral Of Osahen To Privileges Committee It’s Cynical & Diabolical! … Meant To Weaken The Minority Leadership –Mama Pat

Deputy Minority Leader, Madam Patricia Appiagyei, has launched a blistering political denunciation of the year, accusing Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin and Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, of orchestrating what she describes as a “cynical, diabolical and constitutionally perverse scheme” to weaken the Minority leadership and persecute Osahen Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Minority Leader.

Addressing a news conference in Parliament on Friday, 28 November, 2025 the Deputy Minority Leader said she convened the media not just in her official capacity, but as a Member of Parliament “dragged unwillingly” into an alleged plot she believes undermines the integrity of the House.

Madam Patricia Appiagyei declared that the unfolding events surrounding the referral of Afenyo-Markin to the Privileges Committee did not represent any legitimate form of legislative order or discipline.

Instead, she argued, they reflect a coordinated political assault on the leadership of the Parliamentary opposition.
“What we are witnessing is not parliamentary procedure. It is political persecution. It is not the enforcement of Standing Orders. It is the weaponisation of Standing Orders.

“And it is not about upholding the dignity of Parliament, it is about crushing a fearless opposition leader who has consistently stood between this nation and constitutional anarchy,” she said.
According to her, Speaker Bagbin’s ruling on Thursday, referring Afenyo-Markin to the Privileges Committee was the final act in an elaborate strategy designed to intimidate and destabilise the Minority Caucus.

She insists the move was not spontaneous, but instead the culmination of a months-long campaign involving manipulation, coercion, and institutional overreach.

THE ALLEGED BEGINNING OF THE PLOT
Madam Patricia Appiagyei traced the origins of this alleged scheme to Tuesday, 22 July, 2025 which she described as “the day of the ambush.”

According to her, on that day, she was forcibly thrust without her consent or foreknowledge into an attempt to unlawfully alter Ghana’s delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament.
She recounted that the Majority Leader, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, took advantage of Afenyo-Markin’s absence due to ill health, to initiate what she called a “stealthy and clandestine” attempt to remove the Minority Leader from the delegation list and replace him with her.

“His aim was surgical and sinister: remove Hon. Afenyo-Markin and insert me in his place,” she said.
To reinforce her account, the Deputy Minority Leader cited the official Parliamentary record, noting that the Hansard captures Mahama Ayariga’s words with what she described as “chilling clarity.”

The Majority Leader is quoted as saying: “Mr Speaker, when it comes to moving the Resolution numbered 19 of this House, I shall move pursuant to our Standing Orders for the amendment of the composition of the delegation, so that Osahen Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin is removed and Hon. Patricia Appiagyei is replaced as a member of the delegation…

According to the Deputy Minority Leader, this amendment was not only procedurally improper, but ethically indefensible, as she had not been consulted, notified or involved in any discussions about her proposed placement on the delegation.
“I protested, I objected, I refused and I was ignored,” she said emphatically. She described the experience as both humiliating and instructive, noting that it revealed to her the extent of the alleged coordination within the Parliamentary Majority to undermine Afenyo-Markin’s leadership.

A systematic attempt to undermine the minority leader
The Deputy Minority Leader framed the July incident as the opening chapter of a broader scheme designed to systematically weaken and politically injure the Minority Leader.
According to her, the Majority Leadership had long been unsettled by Afenyo-Markin’s “fearless, principled and uncompromising stance” on issues she claims prevented “constitutional anarchy” and excessive executive influence within Parliament.
She argued that the attempt to alter the ECOWAS delegation was the first sign of a deliberate effort to isolate Afenyo-Markin, diminish his institutional authority, and expose him to internal and external political attacks.

She further claimed that subsequent Parliamentary events, including objections raised against the Minority Leader’s procedural submissions and challenges to his motions fit within this pattern of sustained harassment.
The referral to the Privileges Committee, in her view, is simply the pinnacle of this coordinated effort. “The ruling by the Speaker yesterday is not an act of justice or order.

It is the climax of intimidation, harassment, and institutional abuse,” she said adding “What they could not achieve through stealth on 22 July, 2025, they now seek to achieve through official coercion.”
She warned that the implications extend far beyond the fate of Afenyo-Markin, arguing that such actions set dangerous precedents for Parliamentary independence, minority rights, and democratic governance.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY
Madam Appiagyei’s statement raises broader concerns about Parliamentary conduct, internal checks and balances, and the proper use of Standing Orders.

She argued that if Standing Orders can be “weaponised” against an opposition leader today, they could be used against any MP tomorrow, regardless of political affiliation.
“It is Parliament today. It could be the Judiciary tomorrow. It could be the citizen after that,” she warned.

She stated that an attack on the Minority Leader is an attack on Parliamentary dissent and, by extension, on democratic accountability.

 

 

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