The Majority on Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Committee has accused its Deputy Ranking Member, Nana Asafo-Adjei of engaging in what it describes as a campaign of character assassination against Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The caucus alleges that the attacks are linked to the Minister’s refusal to grant a request for a service passport for Nana Boakye, the National Second Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, October 13, the Majority said Mr Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, did not qualify for a service passport at the time of the request.
The Salaga South MP, Zuwera Ibrahimah Mohammed, said the Minister’s decision to comply with a presidential directive requiring holders of diplomatic and service passports to return them had become a source of tension with Mr Asafo-Adjei.
“The minister’s strict compliance with the Presidential Directive, and refusal to be corrupted, must clearly be the reason for the consistent baseless, unwarranted personal attacks and character assassination, clothed as Parliamentary Oversight,” she said.
The Majority acknowledged that the Foreign Affairs Committee had the constitutional responsibility to scrutinise the Ministry’s work but warned against using parliamentary oversight to pursue personal interests or vendettas.
It maintained that requests for favours from public officials must comply with the law and that the Minister was not expected to make exceptions to the presidential directive.
The caucus also invoked the legal principle that anyone seeking equity must come with clean hands, arguing that Mr Asafo-Adjei should not criticise the Minister over a decision it considers lawful.
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