It is good that we are now able to follow the proceedings of the works of Parliament comprehensively through Parliament TV on the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation Television.
Thanks to the new development, many have taken particular notice of the vetting of the latest group of Deputy Ministers nominated by President John Dramani Mahama and who have since been approved by Parliament.
Some have expressed distress about the inability of the deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr John Gyakye Quayson, to fully recount the significance of our national symbols, which give us our identity as Ghanaians: the National Flag, Coat of Arms and National Anthem.
The anxiety and distress were heightened by the reaction of the acting chair of the Appointments Committee, Mr Kweku Ricketts Hagan, in encouraging Mr Quayson from answering the question about what is represented on our National Coat of Arms, and the recitation of the National Anthems, as if the questions were irritating, nauseating and irrelevant, when they lie at the core of nationalism and patriotism.
In fact, in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, because they take their nationhood seriously, one of the objective means used to reject ministerial nominees is to ask them to recite the National Anthem.
National Anthem
It is true that some Ghanaians cannot recite the National Anthem, as could be observed about other nationals in competitive sports, including football, athletics and boxing.
Whilst our sportsmen and women hardly or seldom respond beyond standing still, at attention, we hear other nationals singing every verse of their national anthems.
But for a Foreign Minister not to be able to relate functionally with basic national symbols is not a matter to dismiss casually or something to be taken for granted.
As it is, the Minority Leader, Alexander Affenyo-Markin, placed the question frontally within relevance when he prefaced his question thus, "Assuming you have a meeting with the Deputy Foreign Minister of South Korea and he asked you about the significance of the National Flag, how are you going to explain to him?"
Even with the National Flag, of which many of us have presumed to have a diffused understanding, in line with the saying, onipa a wonim no no, yenso kanea nhwe nanim anadwo to wit, "we do not need a light to identify the face of a person we know too well”, Mr Quayson hesitated when it got to the Green, saying that even children know about it.
That remark seems to have suggested that the question was either childish, irrelevant or irritating, and yet, he had to bend over and stretch his neck to seek help from a member of the Appointments Committee.
If indeed the interpretations and meanings of the colours of the National Flag were that diffuse and commonplace, the nominee should not have hesitated in proferring a response.
He could not readily explain nor offer any response about the content of the Coat of Arms or lyrics of the National Anthem, but made an alibi that he was exhausted.
That was when the acting chairman of the Appointments Committee brought oil to the fire and indirectly motivated the nominee not to respond to the question.
There is no doubt that some ministerial portfolios demand specific professional qualifications, but not every Minister of State is required to possess an academic qualification as such.
But some of them require a minimum appreciation of germane issues and specific principles, values, ideals and concepts of the particular area of public service.
As a representative of the government and people of Ghana, who could be travelling all over the globe and meeting delegations, the Deputy Minister must be able to explain anything about the nation succinctly, since it is not in every matter that he has to depend on the civil servants at the Ministry and embassies.
Need
There may be a need for personal engagements between ministers from different countries or Foreign service officers. In such situations where engagements are spontaneous, it is not on every issue that briefings might have been provided.
That is where personal knowledge and understanding of issues become critical.
How would members of the diplomatic community take a Foreign Minister who cannot, on the spur of the moment, comprehensively explain the significance or meaning of the national symbol of his naturalisation?
There are certain principles that we must encourage and cultivate within our citizens to enable us to appreciate and understand the essence of patriotism and nationhood.
Whereas the ability to recite the National Anthem or identify the symbols which make the Coat of Arms or the National Flag in itself does not demonstrate any leadership capacities, it surely underlines a sense of commitment, belongingness and understanding of who we are.
It is not for nothing that there is an Akan saying that if you fail to recognise or appreciate the horn of your chief, you will get lost at the durbar ground.
Se wo were firi wokrom hene aben a, woyera adwabo ase.
It means we must know, identify with, understand and appreciate the significance, objective meanings and nuances of our national symbols, to know who we are and explain our nature to outsiders.
Question
The questions about our national symbols could be seen as irrelevant to proving the competence of a ministerial nominee.
However, it can never be trivialised because deeply embedded in this basic question is a test of patriotism and appreciation of our history, our sense of pride, being Ghanaians.
Having followed the vetting process of our Parliaments since 1993, and knowing that even when nominees have demonstrated a lack of knowledge about the portfolio they are to superintend, they would be approved, the question about national symbols is a more objective means to expose the nominees to public attention.
We all saw it in 2021, when Parliament took a secret vote on some of the nominees.
Hawa Koomson, who had displayed a gross misunderstanding of certain basic principles relating to her portfolio, secured more votes from her colleagues than Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, with solid knowledge about his portfolio.
True to form, at the last vetting, the Deputy Minister for Communication and Digitalisation, Mohammed Adam Sukpara, openly showed that he did not appreciate coding.
