Minister-designate accused of occupying office without approval

Member of Parliament for Asawase Constituency Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has questioned reasons for which Minister-designate for Energy will go and assume office at the Ministry as if already approved.

At the vetting of Boakye Kyeremanteng Agyarko on Monday, January 23, Alhaji Muntaka said he has received reports that the minister-designate even signs official documents as if “sworn in”. “Does that not make the vetting process like a rubber stamp?” the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP queried. He said Mr Agyarko on an occasion ordered some items not to be removed from a warehouse.

But in answering these accusations, Mr Agyarko said “I have not held myself anywhere as a substantive minister”. Admitting that he sometimes goes to the Ministry to sit in the office of the Minister, the ministerial nominee said he only acts on the instructions of the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said on the occasion of instructing workers from moving items of the Ministry from a warehouse, he only had a report but efforts to reach Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, the former Energy and Petroleum Minister, and John Jinapor, the former Deputy Power Minister, proved futile. He promised ensuring that all is done to make sure the country moves into a steady power supply and “and ultimately into uninterrupted power”, if approved.