We expect Parliament to do thorough vetting

It is almost certain that the Appointments Committee of Parliament will begin scrutinising the President’s nominees for the various ministerial portfolios from next week.

The exercise of vetting ministers designate is very important to bring out the best in the nominees and also adequately prepare them for the task ahead.

It is also to afford both Parliament and the citizenry the opportunity to assess the men and women who would assist the President to run the affairs of the state.

Over the years, the exercise has often been treated as ‘business as usual’ with the members of the opposition in the Appointments Committee of Parliament asking the hard and probing questions, while Members of Parliament (MPs) belonging to the ruling political party ask the leading and soft questions.

The Daily Graphic believes that the exercise serves a very useful purpose, especially as it seeks to prevent the nominees from taking the trust reposed in them by the President for granted.

The President knows his men and women, so he selects those he believes are very capable to head the various ministries and bring the desired development and progress to all the sectors of the economy.

Therefore, the members of the Appointments Committee will be doing the country a lot of disservice if they assume that the ministers designate are already substantive ministers and pass them.

We are not speaking in respect of very long vetting sessions, which sometimes end up resulting in repetitive questions or are just a way for some committee members to show the nominees ‘where power lies’ as has, sometimes, been the case.

The Daily Graphic believes that although some of the nominees were ministers in the Kufuor era, they should not be waved through the process but must be properly appraised based on their understanding of current trends, whether they are adequately prepared to take up the responsibilities that go with their appointments, and if there are no issues that militate against their nominations.

In certain jurisdictions such as the United States whose democracy has become a model for many other countries to learn from, the nominees of the President-elect are vetted even before the investiture of the new President.

This enables the new government to start business immediately the President is sworn in with those who are passed by the legislature or members of the Senate.

While the case is different from what pertains in our system, we believe that we have very capable technocrats to hold the fort before substantive ministers are assigned to the already existing ministries.

It means that while we urge Parliament to hasten the vetting process to enable the new government to take shape and begin its work, we pray the august House to do so cautiously.

There is no point in passing nominees who show during their assessment that they are not ready or capable to lead the ministries they have been appointed to, or when there are pertinent issues that need to be dealt with before they are cleared.

We congratulate the first batch of 36 nominees and others that will join later and also trust that the new Appointments Committee of Parliament will do a yeoman’s job and pass only those fit for the task ahead.