Speaker Bagbin didn’t suspend vetting chaos hearing; Minority NPP orchestrated it when speaker traveled and unreachable – Bedzrah

Chairman of the special committee investigating the vetting chaos, Emmanuel Bedzrah has made some startling revelations about today's indefinite suspension of the public hearing.

He indicated that the suspension of the public hearing was not ordered by Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin as learnt initially.

According to him, the Minority NPP orchestrated it at a point the Speaker traveled and was difficult reaching him on the phone at the time the instruction was relayed to them.

This comes after Bedzrah initially ended the process in the afternoon and stated that it was based on directives from the Clerk of Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, who indicated that the Speaker would provide further instructions on the committee's sessions.

Clarifying matters in an interview on Channel One Newsroom monitored by ModernGhana News, Bedzrah stated, “Let me say that the Speaker was not in the know at all. As a matter of fact, after what happened at the committee sitting, I decided to meet with the Clerk and the two leadership, including the Deputy Speakers, at the Speaker’s lobby.

“So when I got there, I was told the Speaker had given instruction, so I called the Speaker because the Speaker has traveled, and they all said that they were not able to get in touch with the Speaker on phone.”

He continued, “They said they spoke to the Speaker, and the Speaker directed that we should, since they have apologised, hold on to this. And I said no, this is not the instruction I received from the Speaker.

“Everybody heard the Speaker yesterday that the Clerk should continue with its work, so I called the Speaker, and he said he has not given any instruction that we should stop. So in the chaos, we decided that well, we had already suspended, and the way forward is to allow the Speaker to return and give specific instructions. Honestly, this whole stoppage came from the Minority side. I can tell you on authority.”