The Executive Director of the Parliamentary Network for Africa, Mr Samuel Obeng, has urged Ghanaians to wait for the report from the Appointments committee in order to verify if the said nominees have truly been disqualified.
Speaking in an interview on the disqualification of the three Ministers by the Appointments committee, he intimated that Ghanaians should refrain from the information that is out there in the public suggesting to be the committees report because it may be different from the committee’s report.
He urged the citizens to rather wait for the report to be made available to the House in Parliament as has been hinted by some of the committee members before such information is carried out.
Mr. Obeng also educated the public that, the Appointments committee cannot approve or reject nominees but rather make recommendations. This, he explained that, the committee can recommend a nominee for approval or recommend a nominee for disapproval.
“There may be some members in the committee who say that these people are okay we want them to go through and there may be some members who say we do not agree that these people should go through; and so, they will not reach a consensus on the issue. So that determination [that is who qualifies and who doesn’t] has to come back to the house [Parliament] that gave them the job to determine.”
Samuel Obeng
Touching on his impression with the vetting process so far, he said, he as an individual and on behalf of his organization, have really been impressed with the work of the Appointments committee so far.
“I think that they have proven to be a committee that has been thorough in its work and have not also asked regular questions. We can see that the questions were well researched… properly done work that brought out some very good questions.”
Samuel Obeng
Answering the question as to if there are guidelines to the questions the committee is permitted to ask, he stated that there are no real rules on the questions to be asked. He averred that, the whole vetting process is based on the guidelines which is found in the constitution and as such, the committee devices mechanisms on how they want to engage with the nominees.
“Prior to when they come to sit as a committee, they usually engage on what is allowed, how many questions a member can ask and what questions they cannot ask. I think that the substance of what the committee tries to derive is to be able to test whether you [the nominee] were able to endure yourself well in your earlier appointment. Sometimes too, they want to test temperaments and sometimes they want to know whether you are knowledgeable about the role they have been nominated for.”
Samuel Obeng
His comment comes on the back of the type of questions which were being asked during the vetting process which some people deemed as unnecessary.
Yesterday, February, 1,2021, a list purported to have come from sources inside Parliament disclosed that, some ministerial nominees had been rejected by the Appointments committee. The information which has been circulating suggests that, the Minister-designate for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Afriyie Akoto and Minister-designate for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Hawa Koomson have been disqualified.
