I Doubt It!!! No Minister Designate Will Be Rejected; Not A Single Person - Inusah Fuseini

Lawyer and Former Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Inusah Fuseini has indicated that no ministerial nominee will be rejected by Parliament’s Appointments Committee.

“I have my doubts they will be rejected. Not a single person..." he intimated.

The Committee has so far vetted over 15 ministers-designate in a marathon grilling with each nominee spending more than 3 hours. However, Minister Designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Adwoa Safo was spared the long hours because of her baby.

"We'll not keep you here to deprive your baby," Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Munkata, Minority Chief Whip, assured her.

Meanwhile, there have been several calls from some political pundits including members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to reject some of these nominees. These calls increased after Minister-designate for Fisheries, Mrs. Mavis Hawa Koomson was vetted.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Inusah Fuseini told Samson Lardy Anyenini, host of the programme that “I have my doubts they will be rejected. Not a single person because all I hear are people talking about the fact that somebody has not been able to speak good English or somebody does not understand the portfolio he has been given.

“But 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 policies and that is why he nominated them in the first place,” he added.

A modicum of intelligence for Akufo-Addo

According to him, "Parliament has the responsibility to ensure that they throw light on what they believe is the inadequacies of the nominee. Then it is up to the President to withdraw or if he fails to meet the legal requirements in the constitution then Parliament will vote to reject on the basis that he failed to meet the requirements stated.”

“So credit the President with some modicum of intelligence in putting people in places to be able to push through his programs and policies".

Inusah Fuseini's comment follows Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil's assertion that unqualified appointees should be rejected.

“I have a hope that some of the nominees who do not show they are fit for the job will be rejected by the panel members because that is their job. It has happened before in our history. There are people I have not been very impressed with and there are people I have been impressed with. And there are many situations I feel some persons must be made to come back to answer certain questions before they are approved. Qualification is not an issue, but if the people are unqualified, they should reject them” he said on the same platform.