Presenting the Committee’s report, Mr. Joseph Osei Owusu, Chairman of the Committee noted that the Committee has duly considered the nominations of His Excellency the President for Ministerial appointments in line with the 1992 Constitution and the Standing Orders of the House and recommended the eight (8) nominees to the House for approval.
The approved Ministers include: Albert Kan-Dapaah – Minister Designate for National Security, Ken Ofori-Atta – Minister Designate for Finance, Dominic Nitiwul – Minister Designate for Defence, Ambrose Dery – Minister Designate for Interior, Gloria Akuffo – Minister Designate for Attorney-General and Justice.
The rest are Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen – Minister Designate for Trade and Industry, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey and Hajia Alima Mahama – Minister Designate for Local Government and Rural Development.
In contributing to the committee’s report, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Asunafo South, Eric Opoku recounted a campaign promise made by the then flagbearer of the New Patriotic Patry (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo that the NPP government under his administration will pay all the money customers lost in saving with DKM and God Is Love microfinance institutions respectively when he visited the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to Eric Opoku who is also the former Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, the import of his submission was to deter political leaders from making capital gains out of certain social issues.
However his submission nearly brought confusion to the House and the Rt. Hon. Speaker, Mike Oquaye asked the MP on the floor, Eric Opoku to either produce evidence of his submission or withdraw.
In the report of the Committee, the Minister Designate for Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta responded that the Deposit Protection Scheme being implemented by the Bank of Ghana will help relief the financial burden on customers in such occurrences in future.
He further advocated for the need to further strengthen the regulatory framework of the central bank to reduce the risks of financial instructions failures in the future.
In responding to apparent existence of ethnic imbalance in the Ghana Armed Forces enlistment, the Minister Designate for Defence, Dominic Nitiwul, promised to review and restructure the recruitment processes to ensure that the inherent challenges regarding regional and ethnic balance are addressed in accordance with the law.
The Minister Designate for Interior, Ambrose Dery, noted in the report that in dealing with vigilant groups within political parties, all wrongdoings must be condemned and not countenanced. He promised to treat each complaint handle and get those culpable punished in accordance with the law.
On the strategy for the implementation of the one district /one factory initiative promised by the President Nana Akufo-Addo, the Minister Designate for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten said his first step would be to establish a Technical Group and a Secretariat at the Ministry of Trade and Industry to work with the District Assemblies and MPs to identify commercially viable projects. According to him the next step would involve the development of business plans which will provide the cost and strategies for operationalization of the projects.
Regarding the form of Government support under the initiative, he said the Government intends to call for private sector equity participation and hinted that the Government would allocate part of the $1m that would be earmarked for each District to support financing of the projects.
The Committee by consensus recommended for the approval of both the Minister Designate for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey after distinguishing themselves at the vetting.
The House later approved all the eight nominees after commending them for the high indebt knowledge of various sectors exhibited at the vetting.
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Source: Frontpageghana.com
