General News of Tuesday, 25 September 2018
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2018-09-25
Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu
The Minority leader in parliament is calling for a determination on whether existing Ministers should go through another round of parliamentary vetting if reshuffled.
Haruna Iddrisu contends that for instances where a Regional Minister is “elevated” to another Ministry and appointed into the cabinet, the minister in question should go through vetting again because the new position is a promotion from the previous.
The decision by President Akufo Addo to reshuffle Ministers some months ago, generated a debate on whether they have to go through another parliamentary vetting.
Government maintained that the ministers were vetted for their previous positions and so are not constitutionally mandated to go through another one just to change portfolios.
Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, stressed that a person presented by government to parliament for vetting, if given the nod, is approved as Minister of State and not as Minister for a specific portfolio. The person, therefore, qualifies to hold any Ministerial position within the government with that approval.
Speaking on the floor of parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, said there should be a review of the law, since, in his opinion, there is an elevation if a minister who was not in cabinet, becomes a cabinet minister after a reshuffle. This promotion, therefore, requires the house to vet the appointee to determine his/her competence for the new position.
Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Ocquaye, however, responded that the law says the President is at liberty to call any Minister to cabinet irrespective of the portfolio.
He added that the call is not considered under the law to be an elevation as Haruna Iddrisu suggested.