Minority leader in Parliament Mr Haruna Iddrisu has expressed displeasure at the failure of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to comply with Article 35 (6b) of the 1992 Constitution in his ministerial appointment.
According to him, now that the country has been divided into 16 regions, all the regions must be represented on the list of 30 ministers the president nominated.
The Minority leader who addressed the media on the ministerial list on Friday in Parliament noted the key regions of Upper East, Oti, and Bono East Regions are conspicuously missing and therefore not acceptable.
“President Akufo-Addo must carry the country along and he owes it to unite this country and recognize the talent and the human resources of each region of Ghana”, Mr Haruna Iddrisu stated.
The Minority, he said, is however satisfied with the cut in the number of ministries but noted the cut will be better measured when the full complement of the ministers is made known.
He demanded the handing-over notes of nominees who were previous ministers be made available to Parliament in compliance with Articles 35 (6b) of the 1992 Constitution.
He stressed his side is ready to interrogate not just their CVs but also their records in the public service.
Mr. Iddrisu denied accusations from the Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) that his side is bent on derailing the work of the government in Parliament.
The NDC Minority group, he said, is not an obstructionist unit but a very positive one working for the development and progress of the Ghanaian people.
According to him, the ministerial nominees’ list presented to Parliament by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is a recycle of his lieutenants
The list, he said, does not inspire new hope for Ghanaians, and accused the President of lacking courage and the political will to make changes to his new administration.
He expressed shock that the President could not even take the opportunity of a change in government to alter his lieutenants especially after what Ghanaians were served with in the last four years.
He said, “There is no impetus and new hope in the President’s list of nominees for ministerial positions submitted to Parliament on Friday.
“We have just seen a recycle list with no new impetus, no new thinking, no new innovations and reminds us of a Ghana still living in 1997.
“And what strikes us most as a group is the ambiguous creation of a new Ministry of Public Enterprises.
All our ministries themselves are public enterprises and state-owned institutions are also public enterprises.”
According to him, not long ago, the government passed new legislation putting all state enterprises under it and thought the President would have put the rendition of that law, Act 990 to create the new Ministry of Public Enterprises.
