Over alleged 'Kuluulu' in the appointment of new Clerk as Emmanuel K. Anyimadu gets the nod

Barely weeks after this paper's exposé on an alleged cronyism and subterfuge on the part of the Speaker of Parliament, Right Honourable Ebenezer Begyina Sekyi-Hughes, in the selection of the next Clerk of Parliament, this paper has gathered that the story is causing a stir withi the legislative arm of government.

In what could be described as a desperate move to identify the whistleblower(s) who leaked the story to this reporter, the Leadership of the House has unleashed troops from the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) on the workers tasked to unravel the person(s) leaking such classified information to the media.

This paper can confirm that by press time yesterday, not less than five staffs of Parliament, suspected to be the 'okro mouths', had been questioned by some BNI operatives.

According to the report this paper has gathered, the first phase to uncover the suspect(s) is the use of the BNI and that should the move fail, then plan B would be switched into play, which would involve the use of persons in the media, to try and source out the identity of the suspects.

Meanwhile, since our story broke out, the Parliamentary Service Appointment Board has reconvened and agreed on the appointment of one of the Deputy Clerks, Mr. Emmanuel K. Anyimadu as the next Clerk of Parliament.

However, according to the Public Affairs Director of Parliament, Mr Jones Kugblenu, though the Board has reconvened and selected one of the two contestants; Mr Agama and Anyimadu, he was not in a position to confirm who had been chosen.

He said even though the interview for the position has been completed, he could not reveal to this paper who was selected "because procedurally, after the Speaker has received the report and studied it, he then instructs the Public Affairs Department to go public with the information", stressing that the Speaker is yet to do that.

"I can't tell you the name of the person now but whenever Mr. Speaker instructs me to make it public I will," he insisted.

On the subject of the presence of BNI operatives in the House, Mr. Kugblenu said he is not aware of their presence, adding that the Leadership of Parliament have already put in place measures to beef up the security of Members of Parliament, but will not disclose what the measures are.

When asked if there has been any security breach in recent times by anybody or whether an attempt has been made to attack any Member of Parliament, he said the need to provide security for MPs is important and as a result some electronic security gadgets are currently being installed in the House to screen visitors.

"You know they (BNI) are part of the security apparatus of the country and they can decide to operate in any public institution that it thinks need security," Mr. Kugblenu explained.

Meanwhile the Minority Leader of Parliament, Hon. Alban Bagbin, who is a member of the Parliamentary Service Appointment Board, has confirmed the appointment of Mr. Emmanuel K. Anyimadu, who until his appointment was the Third Deputy Clerk of Parliament.

"I don't know why people decide to keep public documents which end up creating problems. The Board has selected Mr. Anyimadu after the interview as the new Clerk to the House" he noted, asking that "what is secret about this information, and I can't understand them."

Meanwhile, this paper learnt that as part of the package designed for the new Clerk; the former Clerk, Mr. Kennedy E. K. Tachie, will be contracted for further six months to orientate Mr Anyimadu.

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