Minority raise hell over absence of Sports Minister

Accra, June 16, GNA - The Minority NPP in Parliament on Tuesday raised issues over the absence of the Sports Minister, Mohammed Muntaka, to answer an urgent question about the level of preparations for the Africa Hockey Championship in July.

The question had stood in the name of Mr Isaac Asiamah, NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima Mponua and Ranking Member for the Youth and Sports Committee.

It had been scheduled to be answered by the Minister as part of the agenda for the day.

When it was question time the Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, stood up to explain that the Minister was on leave as well as the Chief Director and the Principal Accountant of the Ministry and therefore these persons, who were related to the question, were unavailable. Mr Bagbin touched on the urgency of the question in view of the fact that the tournament would take off in a matter of days. He however craved the indulgence of the House and the Speaker, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo for the question to be put on hold until an appropriate time.

He told the House that the Sports Minister and the others on leave were all part of ongoing investigations into alleged malpractices at the Ministry.

Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, however said Mr Bagbin's explanations were "unpersuasive."

He quoted some constitutional provisions and said the Minister was not dead, had not resigned from his position, nor had his appointment been revoked and therefore the position was not vacant and urged the Executive arm of government to appoint in the interim, a Minister to answer the question and any future question connected to the Ministry.

The Minority Leader said the House was keenly following the progress of the Black Stars qualifications to the 2010 World Cup Tournament and very soon some members would be posing questions to the Ministry and there was therefore an urgent need for a substantive Minister to be appointed in readiness for such a day.

Mr Asiamah, who backed his leader, said as a Ranking Member of the Committee with oversight responsibility over the Ministry he was worried that the Executive was not taking the work of Parliament seriously. He said work at the Ministry was being stalled because of the absence of some key persons at the Ministry.

He asked: "should I conclude that the Sports Ministry is dead." The Speaker brought the arguments to a close and ruled that as soon as possible another date be fixed for the question and the Executive should be contacted to quickly get a Minister as stipulated by the constitutional provisions of article 81 to come before the House to respond to the question.