Parliament has by consensus, approved twelve of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s nominations of forty Ministerial and Deputy Ministerial Appointments who have been duly vetted by the Appointments Committee.
This follows the adoption of the Fifth Report of the Appointments Committee on the President’s nominations submitted to the House on Wednesday 21st April, 2021.
The approval of the twelve on Wednesday June 16 came after a unanimous voice vote from both the Majority and Minority sides of the House without dissent.
The nominees are Mr Charles Kofi Asare Adu-Boahen for Finance, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio for Lands and Natural Resources, Hon. Augustine Collins Ntim and Hon. Osei Bonsu Amoah both for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development.
The others are Hon. William Owuraku Aidoo for Energy, Hon. Abena Osei-Asare for Finance, Hon. Yaw Frimpong Addo for Food and Agriculture and Hon. Kwaku Asante Boateng for Railway Development.
The rest are Hon. Ama Pomaa Boateng for Communications and Digitalization, Hon. Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Moses Anim for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and Hon. Nana Dokua Asiamah-Adjei for Trade and Industry.
The approval of the twelve appointees came after the Appointments Committee Chairman Hon. Joseph Osei-Owusu presented the Fifth Report of the Committee on the President’s nominees and moved a motion for the House to adopt and approve the Committee’s report.
Moving the motion for the House to adopt the report on the twelve nominees, Hon. Osei-Owusu told the House that the 26-member Committee, by consensus, had endorsed the approval of all the appointees after they had been duly vetted.
He said the names of the nominees and notice of the Committee’s Public Hearing were published in newspapers with national circulation for the attention of the general public and requested memoranda in respect of the nominees from the public.
According to him the Committee subsequently sought and obtained Confidential Reports on the nominees from the Ghana Police Service and the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) as part of investigations on the nominees.
He added the Committee furthermore requested and obtained Tax Status Reports on the nominees from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and asserted that all the nominees were recommended for approval by consensus by the Committee.
The Minority Leader, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu who is also the Ranking Member of the Committee who rose to second and support the motion indicated that the Committee has endeavoured to scrutinize the Ministerial nominees.
He insisted that the 26-member Committee, particularly members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) meticulously interrogated the nominees as stipulated by law.
After a brief debate, the Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin who was presiding over the sitting, put the motion to a voice vote where he subsequently ruled that the twelve nominees have been approved by the House.
The House, he said, will proceed to communicate the decision to His Excellency the President as Parliament having given prior approval to the nominations.
