The manner in which the Appointments Committee of parliament has conducted the vetting of ministerial nominees is commendable, Kwesi Jonah, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), has said.
The committee commenced the vetting of the nominees on Friday January 20. So far the Senior Minister-designate and Ministers-designate of Finance, the Interior, and National Security have been vetted.
Speaking on the process on TV3’s New Day programme on Saturday January 21, Mr Jonah said: “When we take a look at the first four people who have been vetted it is the combination of the old and the new. Albert Kan-Dapaah and Yaw Osafo Marfo are old ministers in the Kufuor administration but Nitiwul and Ken Ofori-Atta are new faces in the government. So, the first four we have seen so far reveal a certain way of trying to combine the old and the new.
“The second point I have seen is the quality of the questions posed to the people. The entire vetting process is to find out whether the person taking office has integrity, [that] they don’t have any skeleton in the cupboard, and also to find out if he is the kind of person who can handle the mandate that is about to be given to him and so the person must have character, competence, and a bit of experience because it is the experience that will show that you have done it in the past and you can do it.
“So the kind of questions that are posed should not be the kind of questions such as what is the name of your wife or your favourite food. They should be questions that probe into critical matters. Are we faced with a minister who has integrity? Are we faced with a minister who can competently handle the ministry designated to him or her?
“These are the kinds of questions needed and…I must say so far so good.”
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
