Four of them will go through the process today, while the remaining six will take their turns on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

The committee last Thursday completed vetting of all the 36 ministers named by the President, and subsequently submitted its report to Parliament for their approval.

All of them have since been sworn into office to start work.

Although the vetting of the regional minister nominees was originally scheduled to take place from Monday, 13th February 2017 to Wednesday 15th February, 2017, it was rescheduled to start today [Tuesday], and end on Thursday.

Check below for schedules for the Regional Ministers vetting:

Tuesday, 14th February, 2017

Dr. Kwaku Afriyie (Western Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Simon Osei Mensah (Ashanti Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Eric Kwakye Darfour (Eastern Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Ishmael Ashitey (Greater Accra Regional minister-designate)

Wednesday, 15th February, 2017

Dr. Archibald Letsa (Volta Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Alhassan Suleiman (Upper West Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Rockson Bukari (Upper East Regional minister-designate)

Thursday, 16 February, 2017

Mr. Kwaku Asoma Cheremeh (Brong Ahafo Regional minister designate)

Mr. Kwamena Duncan (Central Regional minister-designate)

Mr. Salifu Sa-eed (Northern Regional minister designate)

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Four Regional Minister nominees to be vetted today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He however said an attempt by people to promote a back and forth on the matter, could create unnecessary tension in the Sunyani Township, considering that its only one paramountcy out of the many that has raised the concerns.

The Sunyani Traditional Council at a news conference on Thursday, announced their rejection of the Minister-nominee for the Brong Ahafo Region, named by President Nana Akufo-Addo, because according to the council, Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh has over the years disrespected them through unwarranted attacks.

Mr. Obiri-Boahen acknowledged that the council had every right to complain about the nominee, but he suggested that they should have used more appropriate avenues to air their grievances.

In an interview on Eyewitness News, he said, “I believe that to be fair to all of us, the proper thing they ought to have to have done was that they should have put their allegations and their grievances on paper and then submit same to the vetting committee.”

Mr. Obiri-Boahen further downplayed the effect of the grievances of a single Traditional Council.

“We have about 30 paramount stools and traditional councils in this Region.  So if one of the 30 decides to raise up a red flag, fair enough; but that is not sufficient justification for people to be reading a lot of meanings into the nomination of the Regional Chairman,” he stated.

Friction was resolved

Mr. Obiri-Boahen also indicated that, President Akufo-Addo and the chiefs had settled the differences during the campaign period in 2016.

“We went to the chief’s palace and the chief raised some issues in the presence of Nana Addo, other chiefs and linguists, and then we said let sleeping dogs lie. There isn’t the need for us to revisit what happened so we were able to bury our differences,” he recounted.

Meanwhile the nominee, once a Regional Chairman for the party, was on the same day Thursday, given a rousing welcome into the Sunyani Township by hundreds of NPP supporters.

Background

During the 2016 election campaign, the Sunyani Chief, Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri,, endorsed the candidate of President Mahama, pledging 80% votes for the NDC.

The NPP’s Regional Chairman then, now the Regional Minister-nominee, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, who is also a lawyer reportedly scolded the chief and reminded him of the constitutional provisions regarding chiefs engaging in active partisan politics.

But the chiefs felt offended by the criticism and demanded an apology, but the Regional Chairman refused to apologize. National executives of the party and Nana Addo were compelled to do so on his behalf when the party visited the region to host it’s conference at the Sunyani Coronation Park.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sunyani chiefs’ rejection of B/A minister nominee baseless – Obiri-Boahen appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.