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Three
Minister-Nominees vetted
Accra, Feb. 17, Ghanadot/GNA – The Appointments Committee of
Parliament on Tuesday commenced vetting of Minister-Nominees
at about 1600 hours and vetted only three Nominees, instead
of the usual five or six per day.
The three vetted were: Mr Stephen Amanor Kwao for Ministry
of Employment and Social Welfare; Mr Alex Asum-Ahensah for
Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and Mrs Kalutie Dubie
Alhassan as Minister at the Presidency.
Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, Chairman of the Committee urged
members to be brief with the questions since “time was far
spent”.
As a result, the Nominees largely got off with very straight
forward questions to which they supplied rather brief
answers, which were accepted by the Committee Members.
The Minority Leader, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu expressed
concern about the way each of the Nominees vetted preceded
their answers with: “when I am given the nod”, and said that
statement suggested that the Nominees were expecting a
rubberstamp approval of their nomination.
Mr Mensah-Bonsu insisted that, the Nominees used “if”
instead of “when” since their appointment was not a foregone
conclusion.
In answer to a question on the National Youth Employment
Programme (NYEP) Mr Kwao told the Committee that the
programme was a good one and “when” given the nod he would
ensure its sustainability and growth.
He was asked questions about the National Democratic
Congress Manifesto’s promise to provide jobs and good living
conditions for every Ghanaian. The questioners indicated
that that promise was unrealistic because no political party
could provide jobs for every Ghanaian even in a hundred
years.
But Mr Kwao insisted that the promise was realistic in the
sense that it was the vision of the NDC and was achievable
in the long term.
Mr Asum-Ahensah said he would take steps to elevate some of
the Divisional Councils in the chieftaincy sector to
paramount status to enable them to play a more meaningful
role at the regional level.
On the question of chiefs’ involvement in active politics,
he said it was in the interest of the chiefs not to align
themselves with any particular political party since they
represented people of different political inclinations.
“It is, however, not in my purview as a minister to take the
chiefs to task for getting involved in partisan politics, it
is up to their people to take them on for violating that
constitutional provision,” he said.
Mr Asum-Ahensah told the Committee that “when” given the nod
he would ensure that the lineage system was properly
codified to prevent any conflicts over who was next-in-line
to be chief and who was not.
He also observed that the installation of development chiefs
had been abused by the persons so installed, as some of
them, usually foreigners, took undue advantage of that
status for self aggrandisement.
He, therefore, told the Committee that he would monitor that
activity to ensure that the anomalies therein were
corrected.
On the question of the need for the return of State acquired
lands in Accra back to Ga chiefs to be replicated in all the
other regions, he said when given the nod he would look into
it and ensure that all chiefs in Ghana were treated equally
in that regard.
Mr Asum-Ahensah also told the Committee that during his
stewardship inhuman cultural practices such as female
genital mutilation (FGM), trokosi, and widowhood rites would
be become things of the past.
Mrs Alhassan was virtually let off the hook with just three
questions about how she intended to represent the interest
of her people as Minister of State at the Presidency, how
she intended to get the Presidency to address the needs of
rural communities and when she finished school.
She said for now she had no particular portfolio so she
would wait till President John Evans Atta Mills to give her
a portfolio and that would determine what she would do.
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