Parliament has unanimously approved the nominations of Mahama Ayariga and Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings as Ministers, and three Justices to the Supreme Court, namely Justice Sophia Rosetta Bernasko-Essah, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, and Anthony Forson Jnr, former President of the Ghana Bar Association.
The approval, following their vetting by the Appointments Committee last Thursday, completed the parliamentary stage after a recall from recess for urgent business. As Speaker Alban Bagbin noted while congratulating them, "You are going to wear additional hats, and that is not going to be easy." He is right.
And that is why this editorial is not a celebration, but a charge.
To Mahama Ayariga, designated for Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, the task is tall indeed, as the Speaker warned: "You have a very tall mountain to climb.
And rightfully so.
The Minister designate is inheriting metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) that are broke, dependent on Common Fund releases, and unable to deliver basic sanitation services, markets, and local roads.
The Daily Graphic believes the appointment of Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, MP for Klottey Korle, a medical doctor and now Minister designate for Environment, Science and Technology, is critical.
She is taking over a ministry that is at the centre of the country's most urgent crisis: galamsey that is poisoning our rivers, plastic pollution choking our cities, climate change affecting our farmers, and a science and technology sector that has not been given the funding and focus it deserves.
Ghana does not need more policy documents on the environment.
We need enforcement.
The Environmental Protection Authority must be empowered to act. Small-scale mining must be regulated, not romanticised.
The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology must work with the Lands Ministry, Water Resources Commission and MMDAs to reclaim degraded lands and protect water bodies. And for science and technology, Ghana must move beyond importing technology to developing it. Our universities and research institutions need linkage to industry.
Innovation must be funded.
Interestingly, the two ministerial appointees remain MPs while becoming Ministers.
That dual hat is demanding.
The Daily Graphic urges them not to abandon their constituents while serving the nation.
The message to both of them is the same: Ghanaians are tired of eloquent vetting answers.
They want improved lives.
They want cleaner communities, better local services, jobs for their youth, and an environment that does not kill them. Work hard. Work honestly. Work urgently.
The Daily Graphic is also reminding the three Justices, nominated to the Supreme Court to be guardians of the Constitution.
Their elevation comes at a time when public trust in the judiciary is under scrutiny.
The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of our disputes, including electoral disputes.
The loyalty of the justices must be to the Constitution alone.
We implore them to ensure that their judgments are legally sound, timely, and clearly reasoned. Let the poorest Ghanaian feel that justice is accessible.
Yesterday’s vetting cannot be mentioned without discussing the Minority Caucus’s boycott.
The point needs to be made that the boycott is deliberate.
The Daily Graphic recognises that the Minority tabled a number of grounds for its objections, chiefly the need for a longer period to allow for public participation through the submission of memoranda.
Although such grounds are cogent, an outright boycott was unnecessary.
The Minority side could have made its point and still carried through with the exercise. Ultimately, we believe there are lessons for both sides to learn, moving forward.
