Academician Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua says the new leadership of the Minority Caucus in Parliament must not be held responsible for the approval of the six ministerial appointees.
The Associate Professor at the University of Ghana School of Law said the approval was a result of the individual choices of the various MPs.
He explained that despite the presence of some influential personalities of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament on Friday, March 24, the Minority Caucus failed to see through its planned rejections of the appointees.
He, therefore, advised that, if anyone were to be held to blame, it should be the leadership of the party at the national level since it was evident that its MPs did not heed their directive to reject the ministerial nominees.
Contributing to a discussion on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Prof Appiagyei-Atua told the host, Samson Lardy Anyenini “I’m not sure it comes down to the new leadership or you can blame the new leadership for that. Because the NDC gurus were in Parliament.
“The chairman and all those people. So if the party had made a decision that this is the line you should tow and they don’t tow it, then if any blame at all should be laid on the leadership, then it should be the national chairman, right down to Members of Parliament who are in leadership positions in Parliament.”
The Professor’s statement follows the approval by Parliament of six new ministerial appointees appointed by President Akufo-Addo when the president made a change in government on February 7.
The nominated ministers included the Adansi Asokwa MP, KT Hammond, who was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, with Stephen Amoah as his deputy.
Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Brian Acheampong was nominated as the Minister of Food and Agriculture and the Member of Parliament for Karaga, Mohammed Amin Adam, was appointed as the Minister of State at the Finance Ministry.
Mr Osei Bonsu Amoah was appointed as Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, and Stephen Asamoah Boateng was appointed as Minister of Religious Affairs and Chieftaincy.
However, the NDC issued directives to members of Parliament’s Minority Caucus to reject the new ministerial appointees in a press release on Sunday, February 19 in order to aid the push for a reduction in the size of the current government.
However, on Friday, March 24, Parliament finally approved President Akufo-Addo’s six ministerial nominees, after several hours of disagreement and a suspension of the vote on the approval of the nominees in parliament.
Commenting on the approval of the ministerial appointees, Prof Appiagyei-Atua further pointed out that the outcome of March 24 boiled down to the personal preferences of the legislators and the degree to which national interest was of importance to them.
“But I think that at the end of the day, it comes down to individual choices, and it’s a question of how the MPs can look at the bigger picture, not just their personal interests or even the interest of the party, but the interest of the country as a whole,” the academic stated.
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