Sports Minister absent to answer questions

Accra, June 16, GNA - Members of the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Parliament on Tuesday raised issues over the absence of the Sports Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak to answer an urgent question concerning the level of preparations for the Africa Hockey Championship in July, this year.

Mr Isaac Asiamah, NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima Mponua and Ranking Member for the Youth and Sports Committee asked the question at the sittings of Parliament.

The question was scheduled to be answered by the Sports Minister as part of the agenda for the day.

The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, during question time, however, 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 they were not readily unavailable to provide the needed answers.

Mr Bagbin also conceded on the urgency of the question because the tournament is scheduled to 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.

The Minority Leader told the House that the Sports Minister and the other officials who are all on leave, are part of an ongoing investigation into alleged malpractices at the Ministry. Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, however said the Minority leader'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provisions and said the Minister was not dead, had not resigned from his position, nor had his appointment been revoked and therefore the position was not vacant and urged the Executive arm of government to appoint in the interim, a substantive Minister to answer the question and any future questions connected to the Ministry.

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

Mr Asiamah questioned: "should I conclude that the Sports Ministry is dead." The Speaker, however, brought the arguments to a close and ruled that as soon as possible another date should 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 and others.

16 June, 09