Muntaka wants Appointment Committee scraped
National Democratic Congress Legislator, Mohammed- Mubarak Muntaka on Tuesday suggested the need for the Appointment Committee of the House to be scraped from the Standing Orders.
He said the responsibilities of the committee should be shifted to technocrats at the ministries.
Alhaji Muntaka said constituting a committee to vet persons appointed for ministerial portfolios should be ministry specific for nominees to be grilled well.
The Member of Parliament (MP) was contributing to the motion to adopt the report of the President’s nominees to deputy ministerial positions.
The list also included the nominee for the Administration of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund.
Alhaji Muntaka MP for Asawase in the Ashanti Region said currently it would be difficult to point out the guiding principles of the committee as far as vetting was concern.
He also questioned the article of the 1992 Constitution that stated that a person could only be appointed as a minister if he or she was qualified to be a member of parliament.
He said such was a truncated qualification of a minister should go beyond just qualifying as a member of parliament and sited the example in the US where a nominee was disqualified for the Chief Justice position because he was not able to articulate a clear vision of the ministry he was to head.
Alhaji Muntaka noted that the qualification went beyond the normal one, adding that Ghana must adopt a clear way of its governance either to go the British Cabinet System or American Presidential System of governance.
Professor Michael Oquaye, Second Deputy Speaker said Ghana must adopt full separation of powers where all organs have separate functions.
The motion which was adopted without any hitch has the following as deputy minister designates Mr Aquinas Quansah, for Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Ernest Attuquaye Armah, for Communications, Ms Emelia Arthur, Deputy Minister of Western Region, Mr Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, Deputy Minister Designate for Eastern Region and Mr Kojo Fynn District Assemblies’ Common Fund Administrator.
Source: GNA