Parliament okays 6 ministerial nominees

Parliament has approved six of the President’s ministerial nominees so far vetted by the Appointments Committee.

The six include the Minister of Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson; Minister of Energy, John Abdulai Jinapor, and Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine.

The rest are the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza; the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Eric Opoku.

The six were vetted on January 13 and January 21, 2025, by the 11-member committee.

The committee subsequently approved them unanimously by consensus.

Prior to their confirmation, the Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Bernard Ahiafor, presented the committee’s report on the President’s nomination for appointment as ministers.

He told the House that the committee agreed, by consensus, to unanimously recommend the six to the House for approval.

Distinction

Seconding the motion, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said he was satisfied with how the nominees distinguished themselves during their confirmation hearings.

He touted how they had acquitted themselves as legislators and earned the respect of the House over the years.

He, however, said the Minority would “hold their feet to the fire” for every promise they made and demand answers from them once they assumed their respective high offices.

In the case of Dr Forson, a fifth-term MP, he said if the government were to implement the 24-hour Economy, there would be no desperate youth on the streets idle and invading companies’ premises.

“We will not be seeing violence and unemployment at high levels,” he said, adding that the Minority looked forward to the economy reset agenda that Dr Forson had championed on behalf of the National Democratic Congress.

“I am very confident in him; being 46 years old, he served as deputy minister, came to the Chamber and seated behind the pillar and nobody saw and recognised him,” he said.

He said Dr Forson did not even qualify for leadership of the committee, but by the grace of God, industry and patience, he had gotten to where he was today.

“I believe that Ato’s rise to the office should be an inspiration, and I tell him that he should not forget that if he should fall, it will be that of the Ghanaian youth,” he said of the Majority Leader.

Professional

Touching on the approval of Dr Ayine, Mr Afenyo-Markin expressed happiness about how Dr Ayine, as a professional, departed from certain positions of his caucus in some situations when he (Afenyo-Markin) was leading government business as the Majority Leader.

“He got a lot of social media attacks on him, but he stood firm and no wonder His Excellency, in looking for a formidable but moderate lawyer to mount the Attorney-General Ministry, found him worthy for that course,” he said.

He said Dr Ayine had made his name both in academia and in the law courts.

Political opponents

Mr Afenyo-Markin said in his early years of law practice, there was one case — the famous Tagor vs Republic — he relied on to make his bail applications and defend his clients.

“Mr Speaker, the Tagor case was a case no lawyer wanted to venture into as Tagor was jailed with others and lawyers felt that it was a radioactive substance.

“This was a man (Dr Ayine) who took the judgement of the High Court and took up the appeal and distinguished the law and set the court on a new criminal jurisprudence and that has enriched the law in the area of criminal justice,” he said of Dr Ayine.

He, however, urged Dr Ayine to allow due process of the law to take its course in all situations and to resist the temptation of being “pushed around” to hound opponents of the government.

“Pursue those who have committed criminal wrong, and we have no problem at all, but do not pursue political opponents.

“If somebody has wronged the state and has committed a crime, there is no problem, but do not allow extremists to push you to attack your political opponents,” he said.  

Mr Afenyo-Markin prayed that Dr Ayine, upon taking office, would review the activities of Operation Recover All Loots (ORAL), which he described as an “illegal and unconstitutional body”.

“The way this ORAL is going will not help the course of our democracy; today, you are in government but tomorrow you will be in opposition,” he said.   

Regional balance

The Minority Leader, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of regional balance in the appointment of ministerial nominees.

He, for instance, said the President had failed to appoint more women into high positions in line with the Affirmative Action Law.