Atta Akyea, Joe Ghartey named in ministerial list

The Member of Parliament for the Abuakwa South constituency, Samuel Atta Akyea, has made it unto Nana Akufo-Addo's ministerial list, and would be expected to head the Ministry of Works and Housing if approved by Parliament.

MP for Essikado-Ketan Constituency in the Western Region, Joe Ghartey, has also been nominated for the Ministry of Railways Development.

This was in a statement read by the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye on the Floor of Parliament today, [Wednesday].

In all, twelve new ministerial positions were announced by the Speaker.

This brings to 25 the total list of nominees appointed by the president after announcing 13 names on Tuesday.

The New Patriotic Party's Volta Regional Chairman, Peter Amewu, has also been named as the nominee for the Ministry of Lands and Forestry.

About Joe Ghartey:
Joe Ghartey was born 15 June 1961, in Accra. He is a lawyer, academic and politician.

He hails from Shama, in the Western Region. Ghartey is currently the NPP Member of Parliament for Essikado/Ketan Constituency in the Western Region of the Republic of Ghana.

He was first elected to the seat in the December 2004 elections and was re-elected in both the December 2008 and December 2012 elections. In all the three elections he was not contested in the primaries of the NPP to choose the parliamentary candidate for the Constituency.

During the administration of President John Agyekum Kufuor, Ghartey was appointed Deputy Attorney General and Deputy Minister of Justice in March 2005.

He was soon promoted and appointed the substantive Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in June 2006, a position he held until January 2009 following the electoral loss of the NPP in the 2008 general elections. Ghartey was the longest serving Attorney-General and Minister of Justice under the Kufuor administration.

In June 2006, a Ministerial reshuffle by President Kufuor saw Ghartey being elevated from the position of Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to the substantive position of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.

After the 2012 general elections, Hon. Ghartey was nominated by the NPP minority in parliament to the position of Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament in the 6th Parliament of the 4th Republic.

Below is the full list announced by the Speaker of Parliament:

1.Dr Akoto Osei – Minister, Monitoring and Evaluation

2.Dan Botwe – Minister Regional Reorganisation and Special Projects