Vetting- First batch faces House tomorrow

Page 3, Thursday Feb 5, 2009
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
FIVE of President John Atta Mills’s ministerial nominees will tomorrow be confronted by critical issues concerning competence, integrity and morality in governance that have been thrown into the public domain since the President named 35 of them for consideration by Parliament.
With allegations being levelled against some of them publicly, some bordering on constitutional breaches and improper conduct, the ministers designate will face the Appointments Committee of Parliament when it begins vetting at the Speaker’s Conference Room tomorrow.
The exercise is expected to end on Friday, February 13, 2009, with the committee vetting five nominees per day.
According to the schedule of the committee, the Minister for Education designate, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, will be the first to appear before it on Friday, with Mr Cletus Avoka, nominated for the Ministry of the Interior; Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development; Ms Akua Sena Dansua, Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, and Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ministry of Tourism, also being vetted in that order on the same day.
On Saturday, February 7, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, billed for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Mr Joe Gidisu, Ministry of Roads and Highways; Dr Oteng Adjei, Ministry of Energy; Ms Sherry Ayitey, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, and Alhaji Collins Dauda, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, will go through the process.
Monday, February 9, will see Mrs Hannah Tetteh, pencilled in for the Ministry of Trade and Industry; Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice; Dr Kwabena Dufuor, Ministry of Finance; Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Ministry of Communication, and Mr Mike Hammah, Ministry of Transport, appearing before the committee.
Those who will make an appearance before the committee on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 are Lt Gen J.H. Smith (retd), Ministry of Defence; Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Region; Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, Central Region; Mr Kofi Opoku Adusei, Ashanti Region, and Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Brong Ahafo Region, while Mr Mahmood Khalid, Upper West; Nii Armah Ashitey, Greater Accra; Mrs Zita Okai Kwei; Information, Mrs Halutie Dabie Alhassan, the Presidency, and Dr George Yankey, Health, appear the next day.
The following will come face-to-face with members of the committee on Thursday, February 12, 2009 — Mr Stephen Kwao Amoanor, Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare; Mr Moses Asaga, Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing; Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, Ministry of Youth and Sports; Mr Alexander Asum-Ahensah, Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture, and Mr Mark Woyongo, Upper East Region.
The final day of the exercise will see the following nominees — Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Ministry of Food and Agriculture; Mr Azong Alhassan, the Presidency; Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Region; Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Region, and Mr S.S. Nanyina, Northern Region — facing members of the committee.
The Speaker’s Conference Room has remained the venue for the public sittings of the committee to vet presidential nominees over the years.
The only exception during the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic was the vetting of the current Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Theodora Georgina Wood, during which the venue was changed to the floor of Parliament as a result of the sheer number of spectators.
The Appointments Committee is composed of the First Deputy Speaker, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, as Chairman, and not more than 25 other members.
The committee recommends to Parliament for approval or otherwise persons nominated by the President for appointment as ministers of state, deputies ministers, members of the Council of State and such other persons specified under the Constitution or any other enactment.
Nominees for appointment as Chief Justice and other justices of the Supreme Court are also considered by the committee.
The committee has its own set of rules, even though it is not supposed to be a platform for inquisition.
Members of the committee, during the vetting, examine and scrutinise the backgrounds of the nominees and seek to know, apart from the curriculum vitae supplied, whether a nominee has engaged in fraud, misappropriation, criminality, among other things, which would otherwise disqualify a person from being voted for.
The committee is also expected to examine the general competence and versatility of the nominees, given the fact that an appointee could be moved from his sector the next day and be re-assigned without going through another process of vetting.
Eight out of the 35 nominees to be vetted are women, while 17 are Members of Parliament (MPs).