Ministerial vetting postponed for MPs’ orientation

The vetting of the remainder of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s ministerial nominees has been postponed to next week to enable Members of Parliament undergo orientation of their standing orders and other rules of the House.

This comes on the heels of complaints from a section of the populace over the posture of the leadership of the committee as well as the argumentative posture of some of the committee members.

With 13 nominees vetted so far, it is expected that the break will afford the MPs an opportunity to take stock of their work so far and also undergo the training scheduled for this weekend.

Speaking to Class News, Deputy Director of Parliament’s Public Affairs Directorate, Kate Addo, said the work of the Appointments Committee had clashed with the orientation of the MPs hence the decision to postpone vetting until after the orientation.

“Events are clashing so parliament will have to look at its activities and reschedule very quickly. [This is] not because of any particular reason [but] the orientation is coming on over the weekend. There is so much work to do so it is affecting [our] work now. Most of the things they are doing, their time is clashing with the orientation and the orientation has already been planned for the weekend.

Some members of the leadership are going to be part of the orientation, which is very crucial and by [a memo I sent], we are going to have [the orientation] on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and that is why we have to reschedule [vetting],” she explained.

According to her, some of the MPs are new in the House and do not know the rules of the game, necessitating the orientation.