[ 2021-03-05 ]

Parliament approves 13 ministers-designate

March 5, 2021

Parliament has approved the nomination of 13
persons as ministers-designate by President Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Of the 13, the nominations of three of the
ministers-designate were subjected to secret
voting with the 10 others sailing through by
unanimous decision at a sitting of the House,
which stretched to about 3am on Thursday, in
Accra.

The nominees, who had their approval by voting,
were Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister-designate for
Information, Mrs Mavis Hawa Koomson,
Minister-designate, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Development, and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto,
Minister-designate, Food and Agriculture.

At the end of about three hours of voting, sorting
and counting, Mr Nkrumah, MP, Ofoase-Ayirebi,
polled 155 ‘yes’ votes against 110 ‘no’
votes, representing 58.68 per cent approval.

Mrs Koomson, MP, Awutu Senya West, garnered 161
‘yes’ votes, representing 60.75 of the 265
votes ups for grabs.

Dr Akoto received 143 ‘yes’ votes and 121
‘no’ votes, representing 53.96 per cent. One
vote was rejected.

By these outcome, the nominees qualify to be sworn
into office in line with Standing Order 109(1),
which says decisions would be taken in the House
based on “the majority of the votes of the
Members present and voting”.

The 10 nominees who sailed through without a hitch
are Albert Kan Dapaah, National Security, Dominic
Nitiwul, MP, Bimbilla, Defence, Ms Shirley Ayorkor
Botchwey, Foreign Affairs and Regional
Integration, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, MP, Bosomtwe,
Education, and Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, MP,
Suame, Parliamentary Affairs.

The rest are Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, MP, Manhyia
South, Energy, Mr Dan Botwe, MP, Okere, Mr Ambrose
Dery, MP, Nandom, The Interior, Ignatius Baffour
Awuah, MP Sunyani West, Employment and Labour
Relations, and Sarah Adwoa Safo, MP,
Dome-Kwabenya, Gender, Children and Social
Protection.

The approval process was preceded by long hours of
debate between the Majority and Minority caucus;
first over whether or not the motion should be
taken at about 7pm on Wednesday or postponed to
Thursday (yesterday).

Whilst the Minority favoured an adjournment to
Thursday to allow for Members to study the 144
page report given to some of the MPs minutes
earlier, the Majority caucus contended that
government needed to be formed in earnest as
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo comes to
deliver his maiden second-term address on the
State of the Nation Address, on Tuesday, March 9.

To determine if the motion should be taken or not,
the Speaker, Mr Alban Bagbin, put the question,
but a voice vote could not tell who won, so he
called for a headcount at which the Majority won.

According to the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) caucus which objected to the nomination of
Mr Nkrumah and others, the trio did not merit a
ministerial portfolio after they were subjected to
the test of the 26-Member Committee.

Mr Bagbin after declaring the outcome of the long
proceeding, which at a point was superintended by
the Second Deputy Speaker, said “the House will
proceed to communicate the decision to his
excellency the President as Parliament having
given prior approval to the nominations”.

BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI

Source - Ghanaian Times

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