GhanaPoliticsOnline.Com
Parliament has finally approved President Akufo- Ad-do’s SIX ministerial nominees after hours of debate and a brief suspension.Kobina Tahir Hammond, an Adansi Asokwa MP, has been confirmed as Minister of Trade and Industry, with Dr Stephen Amoah appointed as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
Brian Acheampong, Member of Parliament for Abetifi, has been appointed Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Mohammed Amin Adam, Member of Parliament for Karaga, has been appointed Minister of State in the Finance Ministry.Ste-phen Asamoah Boateng has been appointed Minister of Religious and Chieftaincy Affairs, while Mr. Osei Bonsu Amoah has been appointed Minister of State for Local Government and Rural Development.
Obviously disappointed, General Secretary Fifi Kwetey took to social media to vent his anger about turn of events yesterday in parliament when the house cast a ballot to determine the fate of some 6 nominees of president Akuffo Addo whose fate hanged in a balance as a result of the determination of the NDC to prevent them from being confirmed as ministers.
Fifi Kwetey resorted to publicly naming and commend-
ing MPs who voted against the nominees. Hon Dzifa Go-mahsie, Elizabeth O Adjare, Linda Ocloo, Joseph Boateng, Clement Apaak, Peter Ackah, Murtala Mohammed, Ben Ahlafor, Della Sowah, Samuel Ablakwah,Ato Forson, Alex Hottordze, Bedzrah, Theresa Awuni, Ezan-etor Rawlings, and Angela Tay were among those he thanked. He stated that he would release a lot more names once he had proof that they supported the party.
He thanked them for not betraying the NDC’s cause.
If readers recall, controversy erupted when the party instructed MPs not to approve the President’s six nominees, raising questions about whether the party can instruct MPs to do their bidding and whether it violated parliamentary processes and guidelines, as well as the tenets of democracy. The NDC insisted that this move was necessary to reduce government size, especially since the president is not doing so of his own volition and at a time when our finances are in a bad state.
With the party’s chairman present in parliament on D day, many are wondering what went wrong and whether the party took the necessary steps to bridge the gap between the Haruna and Forson factions within the minority caucus. Many pundits and political observers believe that if this issue is not re-solved, it will become the NDC’s Achilles heel in parliament going into the 2024 elections.
Curiously though is the question of the gathering ofevidence of those who voted against the will of the party and how the evidence mentioned would be gathered seeing that this was a secret vote.
Did the NDC compel its members to snap a picture of the votes and send back to the party? if yes would parliament be interested in finding out how the NDC is gathering this evidence and does it infringe on the pro-cesses, conventions and standing orders of parliament?
