Vetting of the last batch of 54 ministers of state and deputy ministers-designate will start on Monday, March 27, 2017, with the appearance of the four ministers of state-designate before the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, told the Daily Graphic last Tuesday that the leadership of the committee had agreed that five deputy ministers-designate would be vetted a day, after the vetting of the four ministers of state.
He said the vetting would be held daily till March 30, 2017, which also starts the recess of Parliament.
Mr Osei-Owusu also noted that the committee would resume the vetting of the deputy ministers-designate on April 3, 2017 till April 5, 2017, and then go on a break.
He said the committee would then hold the last batch of vetting from April 15-18, 2017.
The ministers of state are Ms Sarah Adwoa Safo, Minister of State at the Office of the President in charge of Procurement; Brian Acheampong, Minister at the Office of the President; Dr Nurah Gyeile, Minister of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, and Professor Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State, Tertiary.
No disagreements
Mr Osei-Owusu, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, denied that there had been disagreements between the Majority and Minority members of the committee over the number of nominees to be vetted daily.
He said the decision to vet all the four ministers of state in a day and subsequently five deputy ministers daily was made by the leadership of the committee, which included himself; his deputy, Ms Safo; the Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the committee, Mr Haruna Iddrisu; and the Minority Chief Whip and Deputy Ranking Member on the committee, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak.
He said at no point in the meeting did anybody suggest that 10 nominees be allowed to appear before the committee daily.
According to him, there was no need to rush the vetting of the nominees because Parliament would only resume on April 16, 2017 for the possible approval of the nominees.
Earlier, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale North and Minority member on the committee, Mr Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, told the Daily Graphic that the Minority members on the committee had rejected a suggestion for the committee to vet 10 ministers and deputy ministers daily.
He said the Minority felt it was impossible to vet 10 nominees daily.
Therefore, he said, the Minority had proposed that five nominees be vetted in a day.
Mr Suhuyini said the Minority members in the committee were of the view that the vetting of the rest of the ministers could continue after recess.
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