Review membership of Appointment C’tee – Dep. Speaker

The First Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the Appointment Committee of Parliament, Hon. Joseph Osei Owusu has raised concerns over the composition of the Committee responsible for vetting government appointees.

He argues that an overwhelming number of Majority members on the committee are members of the executive. This he argues hinders the work of his committee.

Speaking during the adoption of a report of the committee of selection on the recomposition of committees the First Deputy Speaker urged Leadership to address his concerns.

“I would have wished that you review the membership of the Appointment Committee, out of the sixteen on the Majority side only two are not Ministers or Deputy Ministers and it makes it very difficult to call a meeting and get a quorum because the ministers and deputy ministers are always busy. If you look at apart from myself and the Chief whip everybody is either a minister or a deputy minister and it makes it difficult to manage.”

The reshuffle a third of its kind in a spate of two years has become necessary following recent appointments of ministers and deputy ministers for the six newly created regions.

The House lost Chairmen of committees such as Education and Local Government to the new appointments by President Akufo Addo.

The shakeup in Parliament saw the MP for Assin Central Ken Agyapong exit from the Communications Committee as Chairman for that of Local Government. 

His position has now been given to MP for Suhum, Opare Ansah, while MP for Akyem Oda, William Quaitoo takes over from the now Deputy Minister for the Bono Region, Siaka Stephen as Chairman for Education Committee.

The move according to the Deputy Majority Whip Matthew Nyindam explains is to ensure the effective and successful running of Parliament.