Parliament Defers Voting On Six Deputy Ministerial Appointments

Ghana’s Parliament has deferred voting on the Appointment Committee’s report on six deputy Ministers who were vetted last February. After about two hours of heated and partisan arguments on the motion for the adoption of the report, the house decided that the vote should be taken tomorrow. Various comments have been made about the nominees ranging from their honesty to their command of the English language.

The Deputy Minister designate for Transport and Communication, Kwaku Agyeman has had his integrity questioned while the deputy ministerial nominees for the Western Region, Sophia Honer-Sam, Manpower Development and Employment, John Benam Jabaah and Roads and Highways, Alex Seidu are said to be inarticulate and probably incompetent.

A report on deputy Minister designate for Land, Mines and Forestry, Ben Kufuor will also be presented to the House tomorrow following allegations of stealing made against him. All these came to a head today when the motion for the approval of the Appointment Committee’s report was moved in the Parliament. The Member for Biakoye, Dr Kwabena Agyei, summed up the sentiment for those who are opposed to the motion.

When the time came for the House to adopt the report of the Appointments Committee, the Majority Leader, J. H. Mensah said if a decision is taken through a secret ballot as the Speaker, Peter Ala Adjetey had suggested, it would give the impression that the House was divided on the issue.

He suggested that for the sake of consensus building the question should be taken after a meeting of the leadership of the Majority and Minority sides. Proceedings were held up for about five minutes as the leaders went into a meeting to take a decision. When they returned, they had reached a consensus – the vote should be taken tomorrow.