Parliament reconstitutes committee to vet new ministers
The Committee of Selection of Parliament has reconstituted the Appointments Committee of the House to vet the 23 ministers and deputy ministers nominated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last week.
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The nine-member committee is chaired by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu.
The other members are the deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, as the vice chairman; the majority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh (member) and the Minority Leader, Ato Forson, as a Ranking Member.
The rest are the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minority Chief Whip, Kwame Agbodza, Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, Gifty Twum-Ampofo, and Samuel Atta Akyea.
The composition is according to Order 205 of the revised Standing Orders of the House.
The motion for the adoption of the committee's report was moved by the Deputy Majority Leader, Mr Afenyo-Markin, and seconded by Mr Agbodza.
Background
Last week, the President nominated 23 ministers of state and their deputies to take over from those who had been reassigned or relieved of their duties.
The President subsequently wrote to the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, hoping that "Parliament will, once again, on a bi-partisan basis, expedite the approval of the nominees, so they can join the government forthwith and assist in the delivery of his mandate for his second term in office."
Nominees
Those nominated as ministers of state include a former Deputy Minister of Health and Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr Bernard Okoe Boye.
He takes over from 68-year-old Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Member of Parliament for Dormaa Central.
The MP for Mfantseman, Ophelia Mensah Hayford, is for Environment, Science and Technology. She takes over from Dr Kwaku Afriyie.
A former Deputy Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, also takes over as Minister of Information, while her boss, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, is now minister-designate for Works and Housing, with 39-year-old newcomer, Dakoa Newman, going to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection.
Another new entrant, Lydia Seyram Alhassan, who is the First Deputy Majority Chief Whip, has been nominated for the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry and Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, a former Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural
Development, has been nominated as the substantive minister for the same portfolio.
The Deputy Minister of Energy, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has been elevated from the Energy Ministry to the position of a substantive Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, while a former Deputy Minister of Transport, Titus Glover, takes over from the Greater Accra Minister, Henry Quartey, who has been reassigned to the Interior Ministry.
The Assistant Registrar of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Daniel Machator, a minister-designate for the Oti Region, completes the ministers’ list.
The MP for Bortianor-Ngleshie Amanfro, Sylvester Tetteh, is the Deputy Minister nominee for Information, while the MP for Old Tafo, Vincent Ekow Assafuah, is the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development.
The rest of the deputy minister nominees are Charles Acheampong, Communications and Digitalisation; Adelaide Ntim (Health), Alexander Akwasi Acquah (Works and Housing); Dr Prince Hamidu Armah (Lands and Natural Resources); Akwasi Konadu and Musah Abdul Aziz Ayaba (Fisheries and Aquaculture Development); John Kobina Sanie and Collins Adomako Mensah (Energy); Prof. Kingsley Nyarko (Education); Festus Awuah Kwofie (Employment and Labour Relations); and Benjamin Sekyere Yeboah (Gender, Children and Social Protection).
