The Member of Parliament of Suame, John Darko, has hinted at plans by the Minority Caucus to abstain from the approval process of eight ministerial nominees who were vetted by the Appointments Committee, despite the Minority’s walkout.
Speaking in an interview on Adom FM on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, Darko, who is also a lawyer, said that the Majority’s decision to proceed with the vetting, following Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin’s order to suspend four committee members, was in conflict with the law.
According to him, the absence and non-participation of the Minority in the vetting process raised concerns that the vetting of the eight appointees might be considered null and void, adding that his side will strongly resist any attempts by the Majority to approve them.
“That vetting that went on after his [Bagbin’s] order to reconstitute the Appointments Committee violated the speaker’s orders. They haven’t been vetted, so, we are not going to be part of any process to approve them. They are breaking laws and misconducting themselves because they think Ghanaians have voted them into power. We are watching. If the person has not been properly vetted, how can you bring them to Parliament for approval? We will resist it.
“They will go and claim the people have been approved and will swear them in to become ministers to work. We are in this country and we will see for the next four years how we are breaching the laws of this country with reckless abandon,” he said.
Following the Speaker’s directive to suspend four MPs from the committee due to their involvement in the chaotic scenes that unfolded, the Minority staged a boycott in protest against the decision.
However, the Majority side of the committee, undeterred by the Minority’s boycott, proceeded with the vetting of eight additional ministerial nominees.
These included Felix Kwakye Ofosu, the Minister of State in charge of Government Communication-designate; Charity Gardiner, the Ahafo Regional Minister-designate; Be-Awuribe Issifu, the Savannah Regional Minister-designate; Wilbert Petty Brentum, the Western North Regional Minister-designate; and Joseph Nelson, the Western Regional Minister designate.
The remaining nominees were Joseph Addae Akwaboa, the Bono Regional Minister-designate; Francis Owusu Antwi, the Bono East Regional Minister-designate; and Puozuing Charles Lwanga, the Upper West Regional Minister-designate.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Bernard Ahiafor, has explained why they proceeded with the vetting of President John Mahama’s ministerial nominees after members of the Minority walked out of the session on January 31.
He said the remaining members formed a quorum, thus had the legal basis to continue the exercise.
“The suspension of 2 of the 11 members did not mean we could not work,” he said during an interview on February 3.
