Majority Whip Frank Annohp-Dompreh has made a passionate appeal to the Minority Caucus in Parliament to rescind its decision not to approve the President’s nominees for ministerial positions.
According to him, it will not be injurious to them and to the country’s democracy if they go ahead to support and approve the nominees.
He indicated that members have a convention in the House to support any colleague that gets appointed to a ministerial position and urged the Minority to go against this long-standing norm.
Speaking to the media on a directive of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to its members in Parliament not to approve President Akufo-Addos’s ministerial nominees, the Whip urged the Minority to reflect on their decision for the sake of unity, the country and the desire to forge a good working relationship.
Mr. Annoh-Dompreh noted that this is a major decision the new Minority leadership is going and urged them ‘to tamper justice with mercy.’
“That is not the right expression to use in this context because I don’t see the relevance to this but I’m just saying they should just go and support the nominees and let’s pass them.”
“The Hon. KT Hammond, Bryan Acheampong, OB Amoah and Stephen Amoah are all our colleagues and in this House, we have this convention where if one of our own gets the privilege to be nominated we rally around one another to get them endorsed, especially in the case that there is no committal of any crime.”
“It will not be injurious if they so decide to support the decision. I’m just appealing to them to remember that today will be a very significant day in our body politics, that once upon a time nomination from the presidency came and all they said was a no no no. I’ve been listening to them for me it’s a significant statement and will re-echo into the future.”
The Majority Whip indicated the call for downsizing may be justified but argued that in the midst of global economic turmoil, a major ministry like that of agriculture cannot be scrapped.
The President, he said, has heard the Minority and therefore deserves the benefit of the doubt and urged his colleagues to do the needful and support to approve the nominees.
According to him, the nominees have discharged themselves creditably before the Appointments Committee and deserved to be approved to serve the nation.