Enjoying coolness, goodwill: Different strokes of appointees, vetting

Just some two months ago this time, the noise level was deafening.  The political campaign mode was at a crescendo and the air in the environment was hot.

Weeks later, all is now water under the bridge.  Dare one say that the focus is now on Ghana and how the resetting agenda will better our lot as appointments of individuals to lead and execute the agenda are announced and vetted accordingly?  

So far, with the first lot of nominees vetted and sworn in, it seems President John Dramani Mahama is on course to deliver the Ghana he promised us.

Competence, youthfulness

From the appointments so far, it is clear that the President in not only looking for competence but he seems to have a lot of faith in pushing the relatively younger and hard-working hopefuls, who worked with him in his first term and have had their capabilities tried and tested.  

Focusing on youthful energetic minds reminds me of the success aimed for by a multi-national company I worked for in my former days.  

The company believed in diversity and inclusion and intentionally put premium on youthful minds, cross-fertilising them, exposing them nationally and internationally, constantly training them and challenging them with key positions for the future good of the business.

With his view to bring inclusivity and diversity to governance, one is proud to see that women are also not left out in the portfolios so far announced even though one would like to see more women going forward.  

It is instructive that in swearing in the first batch of ministerial appointees, the President drew attention to and cautioned them about showing respect in service to the people.

It is very important that persons elected or appointed into public office are reminded constantly that they are there because of the people.  

The local saying that prosperity triggers forgetfulness is very true.  It is human and complacency cannot be allowed to set in.

From what one is seeing, the level of goodwill received by the President from local and international sources is encouraging.  That is why his appointees cannot afford to fail him and, in the event, fail the country.

One good news is what he shared with Ghanaians at the swearing-in ceremony of the first lot of ministerial appointees last Wednesday.  

The then transitional lead for energy, now Minister of Energy, Mr John Abu Jinapor, informed Ghanaians that the country had less than a week’s supply of fuel for energy supply and the country was on the brink of power outages.  

However, at the swearing-in ceremony where he commended the hard work of the new Energy Minister, the President informed the nation that the looming power crisis that was staring us in the face had been renegotiated. Thankfully our lights are going to stay on.

As the news got saturated with vetting, approvals and swearing-in of nominees, one’s eyes have stayed focused on who is getting a spot on the available not-more-than 66 promised ministerial slots.  

Vetting

One can safely make a generalisation that those who served as either a minister, deputy minister or district chief executive caught the President’s eye with the first ministerial and regional ministerial appointments.  

Quite rightly so, better the devil you know, it is said, than the devil you don’t.  After all, the President has just one term to serve and cannot afford any trials and errors right from day one.

Interestingly, these old but new hands come in different strokes.  Watching them on television answering questions from childhood to adulthood,  some still were presenting curriculum vitae (CVs) that needed corrections.  

At a competitive work interview, such mistakes could have been problematic for the job seeker.

Others, however, were spot on, articulate and even caused panel members from both sides to smile, laugh and give commendations.

Some of the questions that came from the minority side made some nominees unsettled and sometimes caused the Committee Chairman to interject.  

Some members of the public sent in questions to be asked on their behalf and the minority had no choice but to do that, no matter how drilling and unsettling the questions and clarifications were.

Watching the fun unfold, my spotlight has always been on the invited guests – from chiefs to queenmothers to wives, husbands and other members of the family - with specific focus on the prominent female guests.  Sometimes facial expressions and keenness can tell who is a wife.  

They show it when difficult probing questions keep coming at their loved ones.  I watched one such woman throughout the vetting process and tenseness was all over her face.  She never smiled more so, laugh when all others did.  No one needed to tell me she was the wife of the nominee who was being vetted.

Nonetheless, the good thing about this vetting is that people hardly get rejected.  Almost all the different strokes get the chance to serve until they mess up and the people reject them.

So far, one is enjoying the coolness and the goodwill coming with the honeymoon period.  May it stay so for long.

Writer’s E-mail: vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com