Majority Breaching Time-tested Appointments Committee Practice For Minister Of State Designate At The Ministry Of Energy

The Minority Caucus has taken note of indecent attempts by the Majority side to short circuit and circumvent the due process required in the vetting of the President’s nominee for the position of Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy.

Long-standing parliamentary practice requires that persons nominated for appointment by the President shall be published in a newspaper of national circulation to inform, request memoranda or representation from the public. This ordinarily means that the public ought to be given reasonable notice and adequate time to submit memoranda or make representations to the Appointments Committee.

These requirements have totally been breached. The Minority is at a loss as to the rationale for the indecent haste on the part of the Majority, particularly as there is a subsisting Minister of Energy and the nominee is already a Deputy Minister of Energy.

Last week, it took a strong push back from the Minority to call off the vetting of the same nominee just a day after the referral by the Speaker to the Appointments Committee to ensure that the appointment was advertised.

The Minority wishes to serve notice that it will not be part of any hasty process deliberately designed by the Majority to deny the people of Ghana participation in the work of the Appointments Committee and Ghana’s democracy.

Consistent with the Minority’s earlier position, the Caucus will not participate in the vetting of any ministerial nominee that adds to the already bloated size of this Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government.

Again, the Minority cannot support the President’s nomination for the Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy at a time when Ghana is going through very difficult periods, including crippling economic crisis, food insecurity, debt default, corruption, state capture and wasteful expenditures.

The Minority once again calls on President Akufo-Addo to downsize his government to signal to the people of Ghana that, at the very least, he is in tune with feedback and appreciates the challenges resulting from the bad economic policies of his government. It cannot be the case that while the government asks the people to tighten their belt, those in government would have no belt at all.

Under the circumstances, the NDC Minority Caucus cannot in good conscience participate in the vetting of yet another injury time ministerial nominee.

END

EMMANUEL ARMAH-KOFI BUAH, MP
DEPUTY MINORITY LEADER