Minority Demands 2nd Round Of Vetting For Four Deputy Ministerial Nominees

The Minority in Parliament is demanding that four Deputy ministerial nominees appear before the Appointments Committee to be vetted again before they are approved for their various portfolios.

The four nominees are Martin Adjei Mensah Korsah, Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralization, and Lariba Zuewira Abudu, a Deputy Minister-Designate for Gender, Children, and Social Protection.

The two others are Amidu Issahaku Chinnia and Diana Asonaba Dapaah who have been nominated as Deputy Ministers-Designate for Sanitation and Water Resources and Office of the Attorney-General and Justice respectively.

According to Citi News sources, the Minority is making the demand over concerns that the four were vetted only by the majority Members of Parliament on the committee.

The four nominees appeared before the committee on Friday, June 11, 2021, when some committee members, mostly from the minority, were not present at the sitting due to their involvement in the ‘Green Ghana Day’ tree planting exercise.

The Minority is therefore asking that all four nominees are vetted once again, with their side and the Majority in full attendance.

They have also threatened to boycott the proceedings when the report on the four is presented on the floor of the house without their request being met.

So far, 35 of the deputy ministers and one Minister of State have been approved, with four more yet to be approved.

Members of the Appointments Committee of Parliament had initially disagreed over the approval of Gifty Twum-Ampofo.

After the Abuakwa North MP’s vetting on Thursday, June 10, 2021, the Member of Parliament for the Tamale North Constituency, Alhassan Suhuyini, announced his decision to kick against the approval of Gifty Twum-Ampofo.

However, she was on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, approved by consensus after the initial hesitation.

Citi News sources say Gifty Twum Ampofo attended a minority caucus meeting earlier with members of the Majority leadership, to plead for mercy.

Joe Osei Owusu explains why the Appointments Committee sat on ‘Green Ghana Day’

The Chairman of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, and First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei Owusu, has already explained why the Appointments Committee sat on Friday, June 11, 2021, despite a directive for parliamentarians to go to their constituencies to plant trees.

In an Eyewitness News interview, Mr. Osei Owusu said “I was informed by the Minority Leader that the leadership of Parliament had decided that Parliament will not sit on Friday, but soon after that, the Majority Leader informed me that the Appointments Committee will be sitting, I was not in the Chamber, so I did not know what was announced.”

He dispelled claims that members on the minority side of the committee opposed the decision to vet Mr. Adjei-Mensah Korsah, and boycotted the sitting because their objections were overruled.

Credit: Citi News