Parliament has voted to replace the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, with his deputy, Patricia Appiagyei, as a member of Ghana’s delegation to ECOWAS Parliament.
Afenyo-Markin, who also served as Third Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, is expected to be succeeded in that role by Deputy Majority Leader George Kweku Ricketts-Hagan.
The Effutu constituency MP was the Deputy Speaker of the Sixth Session of the Parliament of ECOWAS.
Afenyo-Markin has been a significant player in the ECOWAS Parliament for some time now.
He has been the chairman of its Food and Agriculture Committee for about two years now.
The reshuffle has drawn criticism, particularly from the Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, Dominic Nitiwul, who accused the Majority Caucus of acting unilaterally and failing to consult the Minority on the changes.
“The leadership should not be moving motions and asking the house to make decisions that they should be taking and bringing to us.
“I know it is the decision of the house to do it, but it is not for Parliament because the Majority has majority, to force the decision of the majority on the minority about representation,” he said.
In response, Majority Leader Mahama Ayariga defended the decision, noting that it aligns with parliamentary tradition, which typically assigns ECOWAS parliamentary roles to Deputy Leaders of the House.
The ECOWAS Parliament, also known as the Community Parliament, is one of the Institutions of ECOWAS.
It is the Assembly of Peoples of the Community, serving as a forum for dialogue, consultation and consensus for Representatives of the people of West Africa, to promote integration.
