Ministers leading the Resetting agenda

True to his promise, President John Mahama has outdoored all his ministerial nom­inees within the stipulated 14 days from his swear­ing in to office.

So far, 42 people have been named by the President to take ministerial positions in his gov­ernment, 16 of them are heading towards the regions as Regional Ministers with 23 of them being Sector Ministers. Three of them will serve as Ministers of State. Ten of the nominees have been vetted, with six of them approved by parliament.

It is expected that 18 more nominations will be made soon as Deputy Ministers to bring the total number to 60 per the President’s promise to constitute a lean gov­ernment of 60 ministers to run his government. A lean government is a streamlined and efficient system of governance that emphasises re­ducing waste, optimising resources, and focusing on core functions to deliver maximum value to citizens.

It also aligns with the principles of efficiency, accountability, and innovation, fostering economic growth, enhancing citizen satisfac­tion, and building trust in public institutions.

While a lean government offers many benefits, there are also po­tential disadvantages or challenges associated with its implementation. It brings along a kind of risk of over-cutting essential services and underfunding critical areas in the drive to reduce waste, essential ser­vices such as healthcare, education, or social welfare may be cut too deeply, negatively affecting vulnera­ble populations.

Out of the number, seven of them are female, representing about 17 per cent, far below the anticipation of gender activists.

The regional balance concern­ing the ministerial leadership has been rightly taken very good care of. The largest region, the Savana Region, has four, Article 78 (1) of the Constitution provides that the President’s nominees for ministerial appointments must be approved by Parliament before they can act or hold themselves out as ministers.

A critical follow-up of events at the sittings of the appointment committee of parliament, which engages the nominees, reveals a comprehensive discussion of national issues.

Both members of the com­mittee and the nominees have proved themselves worthy of their positions.

The nominees have proved themselves worthy of the positions assigned to them by the President they have indeed exhibited their competence, skills, knowledge and dedication to deliver.

The nominees have not only proved the President right but have also exhibited a high sense of brilliance and expertise, by way of, answering questions posed to them.

Each of them has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he or she is capable of handling the respective ministries they have been nominated to head.

In some cases, some of them provided long lectures on very salient national issues, which ap­peared to be convincing solutions to the many challenges facing the country, especially in the economic and energy sectors. The next step is to execute what they are telling the entire nation when giving the nod to help address the nation’s challenges and not to do otherwise.

It has been one of many vetting sections in recent times, which has not been characterised by animos­ity and also not blinded by party issues so much. Both ends of the political divide have shown a sense of cooperation and understanding of the process.

The socio-economic needs of the Ghanaian today, which the gov­ernment wishes to reset are very different from that of yesteryear because the world always moves forward but not backward.

There are opinions, that the vet­ting process is so cumbersome and time-consuming. This is against the backdrop of the aspiration of many a Ghanaian that the August House expedites action on approv­al or otherwise of his nominees to enable them to kick start work in helping the President reset the country.

Apparently, there could be means to simplify the process. This could be done by making it possible for select committees in parliament to vet nominees to the respective ministries. For instance, the Parliamentary Select Commit­tee on Defence together with one or two members of the appoint­ment committee could do that of the nominee for the Ministry of Defense. The same could be done for all nominees. A formula could then be devised for the vetting of regional ministers.

The practice where former min­isters of particular ministries are allowed to be part of the quizzing of the nominees is commendable. This opens up the discussion and brings to the fore some important matters that need to be looked at by the nominees when they take office.

The vetting process is said to be the worst in recent times in terms of the conduct of members of the appointment committee. Members were captured on cameras breaking infrastructure in the house display­ing hooliganism and violence.

At a point, members of the opposition were absent from the meeting room, sighting a message from the Speaker of Parliament. The vetting went ahead in a way, with nine nominees going through the vetting in about an hour.

So far parliament have complet­ed vetting the President’s nominees and has consequently approved of all of them. The approval under­scores the legislature’s role in scru­tinising executive appointments before they assume office.

The minority in Parliament how­ever expressed dissatisfaction about the conduct and performance of one of the nominees and therefore disassociated themselves from the approval of the Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa as Foreign Affairs Minister. This according to the Minority Leader, Minority Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, signified their displeasure and demonstrated their rejection of his nomination.

Like the Biblical Pontius Pilate, Hon. Afenyo-Markin symbolically washed hands on the floor of the chamber of parliament, depicting a strong disclaimer of responsibility or involvement in the approval of the nominee for Foreign Affairs. A metaphor to indicate he was leading the Minority caucus to step away from what they deemed as a controversial or difficult issue.

It implies that all the 88 New Patriotic Party members in par­liament have absolutely distanced themselves from the matter and also refused to take any further action or be accountable in case there arose any issue emanating from the approval of Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa.

Mr Afenyo-Markin’s action originates from the biblical story of Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands before the crowd to symbol­ise that he was not responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 27:24).

MP after MP from the Minority side in the final debate heralding the approval, condemned the North Tongu Member of Par­liament for leading a crusade of retrieving loot but is involved in loot himself.

For now, all nominees have been approved what is left is the swear­ing-in of these individuals. This paves the way for the President to kick start the resetting of Ghana’s agenda which is a social contract set by His Excellency John Maha­ma dedicated to transforming and renewing Ghanaian society through solidarity, innovation, and concrete actions. Our goal is to inspire, mo­tivate, and mobilise individuals and communities to reclaim their power and actively contribute to creating a better future for all citizens of Ghana.

It is believed that the potential of the approved people for minis­terial positions will bring about the needed change, through hard work hard work dedication, zeal and for­titude to make Ghana we all want

BY NANA SIFA TWUM (PHD)