The Minority Caucus in Parliament has condemned what it described as an ‘indecent and hasty’ vetting process of the President’s nominee for the Minister of State at the Ministry of Energy.
The Caucus slammed the Majority’s circumvention of traditional parliamentary procedures to vet the nominee.
Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, in a statement to the media, pointed out that long-standing parliamentary practice requires that persons nominated for appointment by the President be published in a newspaper of national circulation to inform, request memoranda, or representation from the public.
This crucial step, he said, was overlooked, depriving the public of adequate time to participate in the process.
“These requirements have totally been breached. The Minority is at a loss as to the rationale for the indecent haste on the part of the Majority, particularly as there is a subsisting Minister of Energy and the nominee is already a Deputy Minister of Energy,” Buah said.
Last week the Minority successfully pushed back against an attempt to vet the nominee just a day after the Speaker referred the nomination to the Appointments Committee.
This pushback was to ensure proper advertising of the appointment.
Buah emphasized the Minority’s refusal to participate in the hasty process deliberately designed by the Majority to deny the people of Ghana participation in the work of the Appointments Committee and Ghana’s democracy.
The Deputy leader also reiterated its stance against new ministerial appointments amidst the nation’s current economic struggles.
He said, “Consistent with the Minority’s earlier position, the Caucus will not participate in the vetting of any ministerial nominee that adds to the already bloated size of this Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government,” he said.
He criticized the President for continuing to expand the government during a time of “crippling economic crisis, food insecurity, debt default, corruption, state capture, and wasteful expenditures.”
Kofi Buah called on President Akufo-Addo to reduce the size of his government stating, “It cannot be the case that while the government asks the people to tighten their belt, those in government would have no belt at all,” he remarked.