Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Parliament approved 13 of President Akufo-Addo’s Ministers on Thursday after an all-night drama over some of the nominees vetted by the Appointments Committee.
There were initial attempts by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs to block three of the ministers but they sailed through by first round of voting.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto for the Food and Agriculture Ministry, Mavis Hawa Koomson for the Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Ministry and Kojo Oppong Nkrumah for the Information Ministry, secured approval of the House in an all-night-long voting which lasted for about three hours.
Dr. Afriyie-Akoto, a former MP, obtained 143 votes (53.96%), while Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who is the NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Ofoase-Ayirebi, bagged 155 votes ((58.68%) and Mavis Hawa Koomson, NPP MP for Awutu Senya East, secured 161 votes (60.75%) out of 265 total votes cast.
The Awutu Senya East MP obtained the highest votes of the day despite criticisms of her “poor show” at the vetting, with many having asked Parliament to reject her nomination.
Moments of Drama
The MPs spent several hours in debating the first report of the Appointments Committee which had recommended for approval by consensus 10 of the nominees and by a majority decision the remaining three after voting 137 against 125 to arrive at a decision to carry the motion on the report.
The 10 that got approval by consensus were Albert Kan-Dapaah for National Security Ministry, Dominic Nitiwul for Defence Ministry, Ambrose Dery for Interior Ministry, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey for Foreign Affairs & Regional Integration Ministry and Dan Botwe for Local Government, Decentralization & Rural Development Ministry.
The rest were Dr. Yaw Adutwum for Education Ministry, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu for Parliamentary Affairs Ministry, Sarah Adwoa Safo for the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh for the Energy Ministry and Ignatius Baffour Awuah for the Employment & Labour Relations Ministry.
Speaker’s Move
Ahead of voting, the Speaker, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, asked the MPs to be guided by the fact that government had to be constituted for its machinery to run smoothly.
According to him, no money can be taken from the Consolidated Fund to run the country after March 31, 2021 without ministers in place, and drew the MPs’ attention to presentation of budget schedule on March 12, 2021 and the State of the Nation address by President Akufo-Addo on March 9.
The Speaker then set out the process for the MPs to decide whether or not to approve the other three nominees, Dr. Afriyie-Akoto, Ms Koomson and Mr. Nkrumah through secret ballot.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, earlier told Parliament that his side (minority caucus) was demanding, in respect of nominee, Ms. Koomson, for further information on the shooting incident that took place during the 2020 voters registration exercise in her constituency.
He continued that they were also unhappy about a termination of a supposed contract at the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority and would want Dr. Owusu Afriyie-Akoto, Minister-designate for Food and Agriculture, to provide them additional information since the termination involved his ministry.
He indicated that the termination of the contract occasioned some loss and said this had become a major disincentive to foreign investors.
For Mr. Nkrumah the NDC MPs said “we are carefully reviewing the tape of his answers to our questions to appreciate. It has to do with Oval Microfinance and the official position of the Bank of Ghana on it. We require clarity from the Bank of Ghana as to whether he owes or not. There is a matter relating to a media house that is also being looked at.”
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House