Some legislators have faulted President John Mahama for publicly announcing his ministerial appointments and reshuffle without Parliament’s prior knowledge, arguing his omission violated the law and was unacceptable.
Papa Owusu Ankomah, MP for Sekondi who raised the issue on the floor of the House, wondered why the President had not informed Parliament about his new nominations, saying “this is not a mark of good governance”.
“When he fails to put Parliament in the know then the inference is that he doesn’t consider the role of Parliament in respect of appointment to be urgent. So Parliament should never be stampeded into approving or considering the President’s nomination,” he said.
“It is not a mark of good governance for this practice to continue. After all if the president has considered it worthy to nominate people in the media, contemporaneously he could just write to the Speaker”, Mr Owusu Ankomah said.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, said he agreed with the lawmaker’s concerns, saying “The sentiments expressed on the floor of this House on this matter are a very legitimate and I share the sentiments expressed by members”.
“Policies as much as possible must be announced on the floor of this House…., We must know which ministers we are dealing with at any particular time” The Speaker said.
The Majority Leader, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, assured the House that the President’s attention would be drawn to the issue.