The minority in Ghana’s Parliament have abstained from voting on the approval of the minister-nominee for Gender, Women, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba.
The caucus said it will not be part of what it describes as an “illegality” to support Otiko’s approval since she confessed to not fulfilling her one-year mandatory national service.
The minority in Parliament at a sitting on Friday [February 3], rejected Otiko Djaba’s nomination over her posturing when she appeared before the committee.
The nominee was queried by some of the Minority members on the panel for describing the former president as “wicked, evil and someone with a heart of the devil,” but she said she still stood by those words and will not apologize for them.
The minority also expressed concerns that Otiko Djaba had not undertaken her one-year mandatory national service because she had traveled out of the country.
The speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye ruled that, the House deferred sitting and vote on Otiko Djaba’s approval on Tuesday, 7th February, 2017, since there has not been consensus on her approval.
But when her approval was put to a vote today, the entire minority members abstained from the voting, insisting that the majority would be committing an illegality and setting a bad precedent if they approve her nomination.
Frimpong-Boateng, Ursula Owusu, 4 others approved
Prior to the voting on Otiko Djaba’s approval, Parliament today, Tuesday, February 7, 2017, approved the nomination of six (6) more ministerial nominees to serve in the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
The House, at its sitting, agreed by consensus to approve the Appointments Committee’s recommendation for the approval of all the six nominees.
The nominees are Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng (Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation), Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (Minister for Communications), Joe Ghartey (Minister for Railways Development), and Joseph Kofi Adda (Minister for Sanitation and Water resources).
The others are Kweku Ofori Asiamah (Minister for Transport) and Kwesi Amoako Atta (Minister for Roads and Highways).
This brings to total, 31, the number of ministerial nominees approved by Parliament out of the 36 nominated by President, Akufo-Addo. The Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency, Haruna Iddrisu, in his submission on the floor of Parliament during the consideration of the Committee’s report, said he believed that those who had been approved possessed the competence to promote development in their respective ministries.
–
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana