What happens to Oppong Nkrumah, Hawa Koomson, Akoto Afriyie after rejection by Appointments Committee

The Appointments Committee of Parliament has rejected the nomination of Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Mavis Hawa Koomson and Dr Afriyie Akoto as Ministers for Information, Fisheries and Aquaculture and Food and Agriculture, respectively.

This is, however, not the end of the road for the three nominees as the laws of parliament are clear on what should be done in situations like this.

The Appointments Committee derives its power from Standing Order 172(1) which states, “The Appointments Committee shall be composed of the First Deputy Speaker as Chairman and not more than twenty-six other Members.”

The current committee has Joseph Osei-Owusu of the NPP as chairman with thirteen members each for the two sides of the house.

Sub-order 2 (a) of 172 states the duty and powers of the committee concerning appointments by the executive or the president.

“It shall be the duty of the Committee to recommend to Parliament for approval or otherwise persons nominated by the President for appointment as Ministers of State, Deputy Ministers, and such other persons as are specified under the Constitution or under any other enactment.”

Sub-orders 4 to 8 which are stated below deals with the steps that the committee and the plenary which is the main house ought to take in the event that a nominee of the president is approved or rejected.

(4) The Committee shall report to Parliament within three days after it has concluded its proceedings when Parliament is sitting. Parliamentary approval of persons recommended for appointment shall be by secret ballot or by consensus.

(5) Where the procedure for [a] secret ballot is resorted to, each Member shall be provided with a sheet of paper on which appear the names of all candidates for approval or rejection. Against the name of each candidate shall be two columns, one for AYES, indicating approval and the other for NOES, indicating rejection.

(6) A cross against one name in the AYES column and another cross against the same name in the NOES column shall render the vote null and void.

(7) Every ballot paper shall bear the stamp and the initials of the Speaker.

(8) A candidate who fails to secure fifty per cent of the votes cast is rejected.

The import of these sub-orders concerning the current situation is that the committee will present its conclusions to the main house.

The house will debate the report and then hold elections on the three nominees. If any of them fail to garner 50% of the votes, he or she will not be approved.