We’ve not rejected ministerial nominees

The Chairman of the Appointment Committee Parliament, Mr Joseph Osei-Owusu, says the committee has no power to reject any ministerial nominee, and that it only makes recommendation to the House.

“Let that be clear; this Committee has no power to reject anybody. Our duty is to make recommendations to the House. The House may accept or refuse our recommendations. There is nothing going on here that is final. If we understand that, that will influence our discussion.

We should stop pretending that some authority is vested in us, individual members on the fate of any nominee.”

Mr Osei-Owusu made the comments at the Committee’s sitting in the Chamber yesterday.  He was responding to comments made by Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Ranking Member of the Committee, at the commencement of sitting.

Mr Iddrisu had communicated the position of the Minority group on the committee on some of the nominees to the Chairman and the Majority group.

Mr Iddrisu indicated that the group had deferred five and rejected three of the nominees vetted so far, and gave reasons why the group did so.

Earlier, the Minority MPs had released a document on Monday, March 1, 2021, indicating which Minister-designate had been rejected or deferred by the committee.

Responding to the comments, Mr Osei-Owusu registered his dissatisfaction at how issues relating to the committee are discussed in the media by his colleagues before it gets to the committee. Chairman Osei-Owusu stated that most of the issues raised by Mr Haruna Iddrisu were alien to him.

He said none of the issues the member raised was discussed at sitting of the committee the previous day.

He advised them against purporting to speak on behalf of the committee when they have not been assigned to do so, and also desist from making public comments on matters concerning the committee.

He said there are issues which are even discussed in the media and public domain before it gets to the Committee, which is not the way to go. The Chairman said some of the issues are for the committee’s hearing only and not the public.

He said in Parliament’s Standing Orders, one of the acts that can haul an MP before the Privileges Committee is discussing matters that happen in Committees in the media.

He encouraged members to stay away from making public pronouncements on things which undermine the integrity of the committee. He said members should learn to go by the rules of the house and work together as a team.

“Please let us work as a team and as a committee. We can always agree to disagree and that’s why it is a democracy. But we should not take out of here matters, which have not been decided by the committee and discuss as if it is the committee’s view. Let us present our report and discuss whatever we have at plenary and make all the comments we have at plenary.”