…He threatened Hardcastle over “Micro Minority”
The Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Wisdom Yayra Koku Deku, has accused the Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, of telling “a big lie,” by claiming he did not provoke the Acting CEO of the Petroleum Commission, Emeafa Hardcastle, during a verbal altercation between the two yesterday.
Mr Deku, who said he sat next to Ms Hardcastle in Parliament on Tuesday, January 28, 2025, when the incident occurred, suggested that the legislator, threatened to “deal” with Ms Hardcastle, which led to her angry reaction in a now-viral video.
The video, shared widely on mainstream and social media platforms, shows the MP taking offence at Ms Hardcastle’s description of his caucus as “micro.”
In response, the Minority Chief Whip, allegedly threatened to confront her, a statement she reacted to vehemently.
“You are threatening me that you will take me on because you are who? My friend, don’t bring yourself. What do you mean you are taking me on?” Ms. Hardcastle fumed.
In a Facebook post hours after the Minority Chief Whip reported the incident to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, Mr Deku, provided his account of the altercation.
He claimed Ms Hardcastle’s remarks were in reaction to provocation from Mr Annoh-Dompreh.
“Luckily, she was sitting next to me. You came to talk to Dr. Omane. She suggested you go back and vet the nominee. Your response was, ‘We will not vet him today. You guys haven’t seen anything yet.’ She replied, ‘You are a micro minority; what can you do?’ Then he said, ‘You call me Micro Minority; I will deal with you in public.’ She answered, ‘Who are you to deal with me?’ It is, therefore, a BIG LIE that you did not provoke her,” Mr. Deku wrote, yesterday.
In the video, Mr Annoh-Dompreh, is seen and heard asking, “You called us micro minority?” Ms. Hardcastle retorted, “But you are a micro minority. Doesn’t Afenyo [Minority Leader] himself use that phrase?”
The issue arose before the vetting of Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the Minister-Designate for Defence, when the Appointments Committee of Parliament briefly recessed.
During the break, a verbal exchange reportedly took place between Mr Annoh-Dompreh and Ms. Hardcastle.
As the MP was walking around the room, Ms Hardcastle, is alleged to have made further remarks, saying, “You are threatening me that you are taking me on because who are you? What do you mean by taking me on? You are a micro minority. Doesn’t Afenyo-Markin himself use that phrase? I don’t have time for that. You think you can bully me here?”
Amidst the altercation, the MP accused the acting CEO of referring to him as “silly.”
“Please, please, please. You cannot call me silly… We will deal with this matter,” he stated.
The Appointments Committee had earlier delayed the vetting of some nominees over claims made by civil activist and lawyer, Oliver Barker-Vormawor on social media, alleging that committee members demand bribes from nominees before approving their appointments.
Reacting to the allegations, the committee chairman, Bernard Ahiafor, expressed outrage and directed the clerk of the committee to summon Barker-Vormawor to appear before them on Wednesday, January 29, 2025.
Commenting on the matter on the floor of Parliament, Annoh-Dompreh was enraged about the nature of the exchange and the potential implications of Hardcastle’s comments.
He described the utterances from Emeafa as “unacceptable”.
“What has happened to me today can happen to any of you. A lady I have never met in my life, the acting CEO for the Petroleum Commission. I didn’t provoke her in anyway suddenly insults were being thrown at me, silly, stupid, useless. Speaker I felt abused and there and then I felt how can a man be killed in his own backyard. I reached out to the chair of the committee and reported same matter, members who were with me can corroborate with me.
“I want to put this on record that even though she passed by to render a certain lame apology it is still unacceptable. Speaker I had to resort to this approach,” Annor-Dompreh said.
Roads and Highways Minister, Governs Kwame Agbodza, appealed to the Minority Chief Whip to let issues rest.
“I took consolation in the fact that my colleague confirmed that she approached and apologized profusely. I appeal to him to let this matter rest,” he stated.
The Leader of the Women’s Caucus in Parliament and First Deputy Whip of the majority group, Comfort Doyoe, also appealed to the Minority Chief Whip to withdraw his application to the Speaker, expressing her preparedness to resolve the matter personally.
“Mr Speaker, as a leader of the women’s caucus in this Parliament, I will plead with the Chief Whip to leave the case to me. I am going to meet with the lady in question and advise her on how to handle issues. This is a case between a woman and a man.
“Mr Speaker, the woman has apologised already, so I am pleading with the Chief Whip to leave the matter to the women and me, as the head of the Women’s Caucus, to advise her on how to address issues when she is in our premises and Parliament,” she stated.
Responding to the matter, the Speaker said, “I’ll proceed to advise the lady concerned and personally go into the matter take the appropriate actions and report back to the house. I will take action on the matter myself and report to the house.”
He added: “With our Parliament, there’s no democracy. With our respect of our Parliament and parliamentarians, there’s no democracy. We are the protectors of the rights and dignities of our people. If we ourselves are endangered species then we have a problem.”
The MP for Tamale South and Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has demanded a public apology and retraction from Ms Hardcastle.
Addressing the matter on the floor of Parliament, Mr Iddrisu condemned Ms Hardcastle’s remarks, describing them as damaging to Mr Annoh-Dompreh’s reputation as an elected Member of Parliament. He urged the Minority Chief Whip, not to escalate the matter further.
“The justified request made by the Minority Whip regarding conduct infers damaging his reputation as an elected Member of Parliament. Mr Speaker, as I listened to him, we can only appeal to him that we share what the Hon. MP of Damongo said – that this house must stand united and unanimous in condemning the conduct and demanding an apology for it, but to persuade our colleague not to pursue it further, wanting this matter resolved at the Privileges Committee,” he said.
Mr Iddrisu, also noted that bringing the matter to the floor of Parliament would send a clear message to the public and non-members of Parliament that the legislature has disciplinary powers vested in it by Article 122 of the 1992 Constitution.
Bagbin, in response, announced plans to summon, Ms Hardcastle.
Speaker Bagbin, confirmed Hardcastle’s scheduled appearance and pledged to update the House on the matter by Friday, January 31.