IDDRISU RUDES THE STORM AT VETTING SESSION

Lead Story, Wed, Feb 11, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah, Charles B Okine & Daniel Nkrumah
THE Minister designate for the Ministry of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, appeared to have weathered the storm which was highly anticipated to characterise his vetting at Parliament House yesterday.
Mr Iddrisu was part of the four nominees whose vetting had been preceded by an atmosphere poisoned by allegations of misconduct by a group at a press conference.
In that heat of excitement, there was the noticeable presence of ardent youth in the Speaker’s Conference Room, some of whom were perched close to the windows when it was Mr Iddrisu’s turn. The youth had apparently come to provide moral support for the young barrister.
Mr Iddrisu showed exceptional composure and even when his glass of water accidentally spilled onto the floor, he remained calm.
His firm grasp of the communications sector was manifest when he pointed out to Mr Atta Akyea, the MP for Abuakwa South and member of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee that the NCA Act, which Mr Akyea had referred to ahead of a question, had been amended.
As expected, the issue of the withdrawal of his MPhil degree by the University of Ghana, Legon, was raised and the MP for Tamale South gave a detailed explanation of what the real issue was and in the end there were clear indications that members were content with the explanation he had given them.
He said he had cited 63 authorities in this dissertation, including the one whose work he was said to have plagiarised, and had duly acknowledged them all in his bibliography.
He said although he had acknowledged the said authority in his bibliography, he apparently failed to give him the credit for some paragraphs used in the body of his thesis and said that was a basic human error and the committee that investigated him had duly acknowledged that.
Making reference to the committee’s report, Mr Iddrisu said the committee noted that the research work was originally his own work and further established that he did not intentionally refuse to acknowledge the said authority.
The minister designate for Communications was also questioned on his statements in the media that when given the nod he would review the sale and purchase agreement of the GT/Vodafone deal and whether that would not send wrong signals to the investor community.
In response, he stated that a review did not necessarily mean the deal would be revoked, stressing that any review would be aimed at ensuring that both parties remained committed to their obligations under the sale and purchase agreement.
The minister designate said any review would be done in accordance with the law and the government would be guided by the national interest.
He also commented on the mobile telephony sector and said there were strides being made but admitted that there were still concerns over the quality of service provided that must be addressed by the mobile phone companies.
He also commented on the operations of FM stations in the country and stated that presently there were 190 licensed FM stations but only 140 were effective.
Mr Iddrisu underlined the importance of radio and said it would be helpful if every district had a radio station and said there was also the need to encourage people to access community radio.
When he took his turn, the Minister designate for Defence, Lt-General J.H. Smith, said if approved, he would make a case for the military to be financially resourced to acquire additional equipment such as patrol boats to be able to better protect the country’s territorial waters.
He also promised to make a case for more military personnel and equipment to be released to augment the military/police patrols in the country.
The move, he said, was to tackle head-on the increasing criminal activities, particularly armed robbery which was preventing Ghanaians from moving freely to conduct their daily activities.
He said the military/police patrols had already been given some boost and gave the assurance that when he was approved more would be done to ensure that crime was tackled head-on to enable people move around more freely than before.
Answering a question from Mr Akyea on what would be done to save the country from intruders who would come after the country’s oil on the high seas, the Defence minister designate said the issue of logistics would be tackled to ensure the safety of the country’s resources.
He would not go into details but said the state of the country’s Army was not the best, hence the need to revamp it.
Lt-Gen Smith, who had had about 39 years in the military with an impeccable track record in all facets of the profession, said he would consider using the military to generate some funds.
He said, for instance, that he was going to consider resourcing the Engineers Regiment, the 37 Military Hospital and the Staff College at Teshie to enable them to be able to generate some funds to support other activities of the service.
On the present halt in recruitment into the military, Lt-Gen Smith explained that the exercise was halted because it was discovered that some of the applicants did not have proper certificates, while others had forged documents. Some of the applicants did not also have medical examination documents.
The first regional minister designate to appear before the committee was Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, who is designated for the Eastern Region.
Answering a number of questions from members of the committee, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said he was well aware of the problems and challenges facing the Eastern Region and would, therefore, work hard to solve them in order to alleviate the plight of the people.