Members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Parliament’s Appointments Committee have unanimously taken a decision to reject the approval of some ministers-designate.
These nominees are Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, minister-designate for Information; Hawa Koomson, minister-designate for Fisheries and Aquaculture and Owusu Afriyie Akoto, minister-designate for Food and Agriculture.
Our sources say the decision was taken earlier on Monday, March 1, 2021, in agreement with the national leadership of the party.
Besides the three nominees who the NDC members of the committee have decided not to approve, there are a few others who a decision is yet to be taken on their approval or rejection.
The Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi in an interview on Eyewitness News explained that the decision by the NDC leadership is among other things based on the conduct of the nominees prior to their vetting.
In the case of Hawa Koomson, Sammy Gyamfi said the decision was based on the fact that she discharged firearms during the voter registration exercise in 2020.
He said her performance before the committee was also considered in the decision.
“Hawa Koomson is on record to have gone to a voter registration centre in the company of party thugs and bandits and fired weapons indiscriminately… Somebody like that cannot just be left off the hook. She cannot be treated with kids gloves just because they appeared before the appointments’ committee to say she regrets what she did.”
The NDC in a communiqué issued earlier on Monday urged its members on the committee to reject nominees that they claimed rendered insincere apologies during their vetting.
Sammy Gyamfi explained that the party views most of those apologies as insincere because “since those actions were taken, no apologies were given, only for them to give apologies before the Appointments Committee before they want their nominations to be approved. Clearly, such an apology is an insincere apology, you don’t need anybody to tell you this apology is insincere.”
He said the party leadership and its leaders in Parliament are in agreement on which nominees should be rejected.
He however rejected claims that the move by the party and its members on the Appointments’ Committee is to settle personal scores.
“This is not about holding personal scores with people we disagree with. It is about holding those who have held public offices to account for their stewardship to the obligations they swore to uphold,” he said.
