Vetting process not an avenue to 'show where power lies' - MPs told

Political Analyst Dr. Isaac Brako has reacted to reports of the appointment committee in Parliament rejecting some ministerial nominees after the vetting process.

According to the analyst, grounds on which some of the nominees are rejected are just incomprehensible and as such he has appealed to members of the appointment committee to desist from using the vetting process as an “the avenue to show someone where power lies”.

In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he furthered: “The vetting is not the avenue to show someone where power lies. No. Look at important factors such as if the person has a dual citizenship, and all the qualifications. When has English ever been a criterion for the constitution?

In this country, we have seen some people who were not even fluent with the English language and yet they have being deputy ministers.

Didn’t Rawlings appoint Akwasi Nana Agyemang as Minister for Science Environment and Technology for Northern Sector. We all know he wasn’t that advanced in education. It has not been stated anywhere that you need to be fluent in English before holding a position”.

Dr. Brako was of the view that Ministers are not “supposed to be technocrats”. He believed that these ministers usually feed on information from the technocrats in order to head the ministry.

He added that due to the various military coups we have experienced in the past, the growth of our political institutions has been affected and as such it will be especially difficult for these institutions to grow if occurrences such as the rejection of nominees based on certain reasons continue.

Background

Reports indicate that the Appointments Committee of Parliament has failed to approve the appointments of ministers-designate for Food and Agriculture, Information and Fisheries – Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah and Hawa Koomson – respectively.

The report stated that the minority side of the committee was unhappy with Oppong Nkrumah, accusing him of instigating the Supreme Court judges to cite Dr Dominic Ayine for contempt in the ongoing Election 2020 petition hearing.

Kwaku Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister for Food and Agriculture-designate, was accused by members of the Minority side of the Appointments Committee of being arrogant when he appeared before the committee and on that basis, they will not approve of his nomination.

In the case of Hawa Koomson, the Minority side of the Appointments Committee, are of the opinion that she is not fit for the job.