A photo collage of Barker-Vormawor (L) and Patrick Boamah
The Member of Parliament for Okaikoi Central, Patrick Yaw Boamah, questioned the sincerity of the apology of social activist, Oliver Barker-Vormawor to the Appointments Committee, describing it as an afterthought.
Speaking to journalists shortly after Barker-Vormawor rendered his apology during a sitting of the Appointments Committee on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Patrick Boamah acknowledged that while the apology has been accepted the matter could still be raised in Parliament for further consideration by the Privileges Committee.
“He has apologised and his apology has been accepted. It doesn’t mean that a member cannot raise it on the floor for a proper referral to be made to the Privileges Committee,” he stated.
He argued that while the apology has been accepted, allowing such matters to go unchecked could set a dangerous precedent.
“If we don’t go to the root of this matter, another day somebody else will come up, make a serious allegation against a Member of Parliament or any institution of state and know that ‘Oh, I can just go there, having defamed them, and render an apology.’ We need to stop some of these unnecessary allegations being made against very important people of state and any other person in this country because reputations are at stake, integrity is at stake. People’s images are at stake”. he noted.
Boamah further explained the consequences of such allegations on individuals’ personal and professional lives.
“Our kids read everything on social media. Your kid will come home and say, ‘Oh daddy, I saw that your committee, they say you’re going to take some money,’ when indeed you haven’t done that. So, it’s very important that we protect our hard-won reputation”, he explained.
During his appearance before the committee, Barker-Vomawor apologized for his post which was viewed by the committee members as an attack on their reputation.
“I want to make it clear that my post was not meant to disparage any member of the committee. I did not intend to imply that committee members received or demanded bribes from any individual. For this reason, I apologise,” he said.
He, however, clarified that a second post which was presented by the committee was not authored by him.
Barker-Vormawor put up a post on social media on January 24, 2025, where he alleged that members of the committee receive monies before approving the ministerial nominees.
The post reads “So all the monies the ministerial appointees are being asked to pay to the Appointments Committee just to get approved, are those ones not affected by ORAL? Strange Republic”.
JKB/EK
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