Minister of Defense-designate Dominic Nitiwul
Day one of the vetting of ministerial nominees birthed some interesting stories with the two appointees spending a combined nine hours before the Appointment Committee.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu the Minister-designate for Health spent five hours, an hour more than his compatriot Albert Kan-Dapaah.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu was grilled on the Coronavirus situation in the country and the funds expended on the pandemic. He was also asked on the government’s Agenda 111 policy, a huge infrastructure drive and the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Kan-Dapaah was questioned on a plethora of issues among them; the military deployment to some border towns last year and the invasion of parliament by armed military men during the election of the Speaker of eighth parliament.
Taking their turn today are the ministers-designate for Education and Defense, starting with Dominic Nitiwul.
The Defense Ministry under Nitiwul has been involved in some controversies in the past four years so he will likely face some tough questions.
Below are some issues we expect to dominate
Military deployment to border towns
The deployment of the military to some towns particularly in the Volta Region generated a lot of controversies last year.
The move by the government was spun by the opposition an attempt to victimize Volta Region residents.
Kan-Dapaah faced the same question but with the case falling directly under the Defense Ministry, Nitiwul is likely to be quizzed.
Military men as bodyguards
It came up during the vetting of Kan-Dapaah and minority leader Haruna Iddrisu was not pleased with the response the committee received.
It’s with utmost certainty that Haruna or any other member on the appointment committee will throw the question to Nitiwul on why the military and not the police is providing security to certain persons including one of the president's lawyers.
Parliament invasion
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, rumors were rife that the armed military personnel acted on the order of Dominic Nitiwul.
In a Citi FM interview, Sam George of the NDC made explicit allusions to this. So when the nominee appears before the committee which has as many thirteen NDC MPs, he is most likely to be quizzed on it.
The country’s readiness for terrorist attacks
Last year, there were reports of some planned attacks on the country. In fact Kan-Dapaah mentioned that the deployment of armed forces personnel to some border towns was to foil suspected terrorist attacks.
How prepared is the country in dealing with any form of attack and the progress made in the area of cybersecurity are some question which could be put before Nitiwul.
Condition of Service for Military men
The salaries and remunerations for the military and those on peacekeeping operations is one issue that could come up in Nitiwul’s vetting.
The state of military barracks and other matters relating to the welfare of military men may come up.
