Parliament’s Appointments Committee will approve all ministerial nominees put forward by president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because so far there are no constitutional blocks facing any of them.
This was the view of Insuah Fuseini, a lawyer and former lawmaker, whose submissions GhanaWeb monitored on NewsFile, Joy FM’s news analysis program today, February 20, 2021.
Asked by host Samson Anyenini whether he thought the legislature could reject a nominee, Fuseini answered: “I have my doubt whether they will be rejected. I have my doubt, not a single person.”
He explained the basis of his doubt: “… all I hear is people talking about the fact that somebody has not been able to speak English or somebody doesn’t understand exactly the portfolio they have been given.”
He added that there was the need to appreciate that the president, as an appointing authority, had done some checks to be assured of the capacity and capability of nominees he presents to lawmakers for vetting.
“You must not take it away from the president that he had a minimum assessment of the capacity of his nominees to deliver on his policy. That is why he nominated them in the first place.
“So you must credit the president with some modicum of intelligence in putting people in places so that they can be able to push through his programs and policies,” he added.
Parliament, he explained, had the main responsibility of throwing light on the “the inadequacies of the nominee.” But that it was the president who maintained the prerogative to withdraw a nomination or for the house to reject a nominee who fails to meet the minimum requirement as contained in law.
