Bernard Ahiafor (L) and Alexander Afenyo-Markin (R) during the vetting of the Supreme Court nominees

The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, who is also the Chairperson of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, has shared a cryptic message on social media following his clashes with the Ranking Member of the committee, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin, during the vetting of the seven Supreme Court justice nominees of President John Dramani Mahama.

Ahiafor, in a post shared on Facebook after the committee's sitting on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, drew inspiration from a quote by Jim Rohn, a famous American author, to describe the qualities of a good leader.

The quote indicated that good leaders are to be strong and not rude, and confident, not arrogant.

“‘The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be confident, but not arrogant; have humour, but without folly’ – Jim Rohn,” the quote he shared with a picture of him at the committee's sitting reads.

The two men clashed throughout the vetting, which took place from Monday, June 16, 2025, to Wednesday, June 18, 2025, with the disagreements starting anytime Ahiafor, in his capacity as the chairman of the committee, stopped Afenyo-Markin from asking the nominees questions he deemed ‘inappropriate.'

Although Afenyo-Markin, who is also the Minority Leader in Parliament, accepted the ruling of Ahiafor on some occasions, he was many times left frustrated by the action of the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, which he described as biased.

The Ranking Member of the Appointments Committee, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, was very unhappy about the ruling of Ahiafor on the last day and prayed to God to grant him patience as he warned the First Deputy Speaker that he is going to suffer the same fate when the political tides turn.

The chairman of the committee, during most of these clashes, maintained his ground, stating that he was a “man of indomitable spirit and cannot be intimidated.”

See Ahiafor’s post, plus videos of the clashes between the two men, below:

BAI/AE