The Minority in Parliament has cautioned against minister-designates holding themselves as ministers, urging public sector workers not to extend privileges reserved for ministers to the President’s ministerial nominees.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, on Tuesday, April 30.
It emphasised that the minister-designates are “at most nominees whose presence in government institutions should amount to nothing more than a visit of an ordinary citizen and that is without Ministerial privilege or authority whatsoever.”
“The Minister-designate who is only a nominee of the President has no authority whatsoever to instruct or direct, implement or propose policy changes for agencies within a sector ministry and therefore under what power or authority does he/she summon CEOs and other heads of institutions, who may be busy with their official schedules, to grant him audience or presentations on their management of state institutions?”
“We urge all members of the public, particularly public sector workers not to extend any privilege reserved for Ministers to such persons,” excerpts of the statement read.
Moreover, the Minority took a swipe at the Health Minister-designate, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye for inspecting ongoing projects “as though his appointment is complete as a minister.”
“As we speak, the President’s Representative to the Ministry of Health clothed with the authority and power of the President to represent him in the Ministry of Health is Hon. Ursula Owusu Ekuful, the Minister for Communications and Digitalization who is currently acting as the caretaker-Minister for the Ministry of Health and not Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye.”
Furthermore, the Minority called on the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei-Opare, to desist from appointing the minister-designates under a new portfolio of “Representative of the President.”
According to the Minority, there’s no such provision in the constitution that supports the creation of representatives for the President.
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“First and foremost, there is no provision in the 1992 constitution that supports the creation of representatives of the President in Ministries of State.
“Therefore, for a highly regulated power centre such as the Presidency, it is ultra vires for the Chief of Staff who derives all her powers from the President as prescribed by the 1992 constitution to be creating new offices alien to the constitution.
“The Minority in Parliament would therefore like to advise the Chief of Staff to revoke all illegal appointments appointing Minister-designates as Representatives of the President. We further caution persons so appointed to stop holding themselves out as Representatives of the President to designated Ministries,” the statement emphasised.
Pending Parliamentary approval
On Wednesday, March 20, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, suspended the approval process for Ministers and Deputy Ministers of State nominated by the President and vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament.
This decision was attributed to a pending court application seeking an injunction against the approval process.