I am livid, very livid. Minority members of Ghana’s Parliament did approve the nomination of Catherine Afeku as Tourism Arts and Culture Minister.
Madam Afeku, like the Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister, Otiko Afisa Djaba admitted to not undertaking her mandatory one year National Service Scheme.
In the words of the Minority MP for Sagnarigu, A. B.A Fusieni, “anybody engaged in an infraction of the law isn’t qualified to hold a public office”.
This he said in response to a question on Madam Afeku’s admission of open admission of her violation of the National Service law.
He could not have put it any better. The National Service Scheme establishing Act is unambiguous on the matter; Section 7 of the Act states;
(1) A person who has not commenced and completed his period of national service shall not-
(a) obtain employment outside the Scheme; or
(b) be employed by any other person outside the Scheme; or
(c) be engaged in any employment outside the Scheme, whether self-employed or otherwise, without the prior permission, in writing, of the Board.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, belabored this when the Appointments Committee’s recommendation on Madam Otiko Djaba came before the Plenary for approval. He insisted on the “right thing” being done, calling the Majority’s decision to approve her at all cost “an illegality”.
He was particularly heard saying; “This House in the conduct of its business must be seen demonstrating respect to the provisions of the Constitution and other laws which include the National Service Law”. His Caucus insisted on the “right thing”. But the Majority, as in all democratic debates, always have their way.
Some MPs were however not satisfied with the precedent. Two of them, Ashiaman Legislator, Ernest Nortey, and his Juabso counterpart, Kwabena Mintah Akandor, run to the Supreme Court in challenge of the status quo.
The two NDC MPs are praying the Court to nullify Madam Otiko Djaba’s appointment as Gender, Children and Social Protection Minister on grounds of contravention of the National Service Act.
In what would apparently, be a sharp contrast to this seemingly principled stance against violation of the National Service Act, Parliament, approved by consensus nomination of Madam Afeku as Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister. Thus, the Minority provided no opposition to her approval even though she also openly admitted to not carrying out her mandatory national service.
It is glaringly clear that the Minority had an agenda against Madam Otiko Afisa Djaba. It is also safe to say that their stated grounds for opposing her approval [her failure to do national service as mandated by law] were but a charade. That would be hypocritical! So, what really was that ulterior motive upon which they acted? Could it be because Madam Otiko Djaba refused to apologise to former President Mahama for what the Caucus described as disrespectful comments to the person of the former President?
Otiko Djaba is a very articulate woman who manifestly speaks about nine local languages; fluently. She is among a handful of women who were visible on NPP campaign platforms, propagating the “change agenda”. In fact, platforms upon which she stood could only be alluded to the day of Pentecost where the first believers spoke in many different languages but were understood by one and all. You could trust her to beautifully code-switch her way through with the many different languages without blinking.
She was loud in lambasting the Mahama administration, and categorical in her critique of Mr. Mahama’s leadership style; in particular, his supervision over the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). Ironically, she calls the Former President “a brother”.
It is these and other issues that hurt the NDC so badly that they wanted to sabotage her ministerial approval.
Madam Otiko Djaba’s vetting lasted 2 hours and 9 minutes. It wasn’t extraordinarily long. Some had spent much more time before the Committee. But within the period she answered 87 questions from the Minority, 36 of which were posed by Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu. 14% of those questions posed to her were on utterances she made during the electioneering campaign. And oh! There was a question about how she wears her hair.
In what could best be described as a confrontational attempt to intimidate her into retracting and apologizing for her seeming anti-Mahama commentary, Otiko stood tall and strong. She insisted she spoke out of her convictions, and, that her views represented the general national perspective at the time. But the Minority caucus was ostensibly bruised by her bluntness. There may have been those Members of Parliament who swore Madam Otiko Djaba’s nomination would never be approved under their watch.
A few days after, the Tourism Minister Nominee also revealed on same platform her rich work experience does not include that of National Service.
For some of us, this was a test case of the Minority Caucus’ principles and fight for the truth. It was an opportunity for them to really demonstrate that the House responsible for making the country’s laws will never countenance any infractions of same.
But they failed the test. The case of the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Catherine Afeku, was swept under the carpet. Some have argued that it is because she presented a waiver to the House in accordance with the law. But, couldn’t this have been ex post facto? More so, does it not buttress the point that the Minority caucus was merely on a score leveling game with Madam Otiko Djaba?
For instance, they said Madam Otiko’s demeanor at the Committee hearing was disrespectful. The Sagnarigu MP, crafted this in one beautiful proverb; “the testicle that will develop into hernia, is spotted the first time it descends”. To wit, she had demonstrated from the outset that that she’s unfit for the office. His beef? Otiko Djaba had not spoken with her mother for over a month. Please indulge me; if relationship with mothers, or even spouses was a measure of competence for office, how many of the MPs (male MPs particularly), would have been in Parliament?
The minority should give us a break. Their members said vile things against the then opposition candidate, Nana Akufo Addo. Some more contemptuous than what Otiko Djaba was reported to have said against the then President. This thing about them coercing nominees to retract words said on the campaign platform at the hearing sucks.
I doubt if their decision would have been different had a male nominee exhibited the same “impolite” attitude Otiko Djaba was said to have put up before the Committee.
They should bow their heads in shame. Otiko Djaba will wear her hair the way she likes it and do her work as the Gender Minister. If she fails or succeeds, clearly, it will not be because she is not on talking terms with her mother or wears her hair in styles the Minority caucus sees unfit.
Writer is a broadcast Journalist at Citi FM. The views hereby expressed in this article are her personal opinions, and do not reflect in any form or shape, those of Citi FM.
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