Only MPs with specialties to vet Ministerial nominees – Speaker

Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament, Rt. Hon. Prof. Mike Aaron Oquaye has announced that Ministerial nominees will soon not be vetted by the Appointment Committee of Parliament but specific committees of the House.

According to him, this will be implemented after Members of Parliament are done reviewing the Standing Orders of the House, adding that the Parliament is also considering restricting each member of Parliament to serve on one committee as is the case in advanced democracies.

Rt. Hon. Mike Oquaye made the disclosure while addressing some selected Journalists in Accra on Tuesday.

“In the revision of our Standing Orders we’re proposing that a member (MP) should be a member of only one committee and be specialized. So that when we talk about the Education Committee of Parliament, the Chair of that Committee will also have the position of a Chief Whip in this House and that’s a very high office to occupy with your own letter head, your own department and doing the kind of work that people do in the US Senate.

“When it comes to vetting for example, it is my proposal and my leaders agree generally and it’s at the Board level that our constitution talks only about the prior approval of Parliament regarding a minister, it doesn’t tell you that there must be something like Appointments Committee. The Appointment Committee is a general committee, if you look at the US where we learnt the whole thing from, we’ve departed. If you’re coming to be a Foreign Minister, the Foreign Affairs Committee will vet you, specialized people, knowledgeable people who have made foreign affairs their career in this House. We want to build some of these things, these are things that members need to be able to perform efficiently.”