10 Ministers Approved

Alex Tettey-Enyoh TEN OF President John Evans Atta Mills' nominees for ministerial portfolios will be approved by Parliament today following recommendations of the Appointments Committee of the House.

They are Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister-designate for Justice and Attorney-General; Alex Tettey-Enyo, Education; Cletus Avoka, Interior; Akua Sena Dansua, Women & Children's Affairs and Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Tourism.

The rest are Joseph Yieleh Chireh, Minister-designate for Local Government & Rural Development; Collins Dauda, Lands & Natural Resources; Joe Gidisu, Roads & Highways; Dr. Oteng Adjei, Energy and Mike Hammah, Transport.

Recommendations for the approval of the first three, namely Alex Tettey-Enyo, Cletus Avoka and Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, was by consensus, whilst the rest were unanimously recommended for their respective portfolios.

For the nominees who have been recommended by consensus, it means that although the Committee has okayed their nominations, there are certain issues to be raised about them on the floor of Parliament.

Approval of the nominees which should have taken place yesterday was deferred because there were factual inaccuracies and typographical errors with the Appointments Committee's report on the Ministers-designate.

Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Edward Doe-Adjaho who is also the First Deputy Speaker, had suggested that since there were no serious disagreements with the nominees, the motion for their approval should be moved whilst the Hansard Department captured the corrected versions.

However, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Agona West, Hon. Samuel K. Abodai proposed that based on recent outcry that the House does not properly scrutinise reports before approval, it was important that all mistakes in the report were corrected before it was moved.

Hon. Edward Doe-Adjaho and Minority Leader and Ranking Member on the Appointments Committee, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu in agreeing to the proposal, said the Committee had been working under severe pressure ever since it began the vetting of the ministerial nominees.

According to them, the Committee normally closed about 9:00pm after which the clerks took over the minutes of the vetting to put the report together and therefore human beings as they are, they could make mistakes under severe pressure.

The Majority Leader, Alban Bagbin, in moving for the adjournment of the House, attested to the fact that members of the Appointments Committee had been working under pressure and suggested that they should be properly motivated.

By Awudu Mahama & Sheilla Sackey