The Editor of the Ghanaian Publisher Newspaper, Yaw Obeng Manu has described the ministerial vetting process of Ghana as not up to standard and thorough.
On his accord, the individuals on the vetting committee are not in the right capacity to do the job as they have little to no knowledge of the various positions to be filled by these ministerial appointees.
Yaw Obeng Manu argued that experts in the various fields must be made to vet ministerial appointees rather than random people.
“The mode of vetting ministerial appointees is very poor. We have the Attorney General being vetted by persons with no knowledge of the law. How should that be the norm?” he sought answers.
The Editor shared that in some jurisdictions where industry-specific experts vet ministerial appointees, there is high quality in the vetting process with appointees being tested for their quality unlike what is currently happening in Ghana.
Speaking in an interview on the Happy Morning Show aired on e.TV Ghana and Happy 98.9 FM, Yaw Obeng Manu said, “We have our vetting committee asking winding questions and the likes. How and why should you even ask a question like what is fish farming?
If we are vetting the Trades Minister, members on the Parliamentary Select Committee of Trade must be the ones doing the vetting and the same should be done for all others”.
He believes to avoid the long hours spent by the appointees in the vetting chamber, each member of the committee must be given a limited time to ask his or her questions. “Each member of the panel must have about 5 minutes to ask his or her question and nothing more. They should also be advised to go straight to the question and stop winding”.
Parliament has begun the vetting of the first batch of ministerial nominees as announced by President Nana Akufo-Addo for his second term in office.
The month-long vetting started on Wednesday, February 10 and is scheduled to end on Tuesday, March 9, 2021.
By: Joel Sanco
