NDC MPs won't boycott Appointments Committee - Deputy minority leader

07:16 - 06 April 2017

Deputy Minority Leader, James Klutse Avedzi

The minority have, however, cautioned not to sit beyond Friday, April 7, 2017, the date scheduled for the House to go on recess sine die.

The Minority members on the Appointments Committee say their decision to boycott Parliament on Thursday and Friday, April 6 and 7, 2017, have been withdrawn.

They have, however, cautioned not to sit beyond Friday, April 7, 2017, the date scheduled for the House to go on recess sine die.

The Minority NDC, Friday, March 31, 2017, served notice not to sit beyond Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

This follows concerns that the leadership of the Committee had gone against the timetable for the vetting process without informing the Minority side of the House.

According to a member of the minority, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa the committee was supposed to go on recess but there was no consensus in the decision to continue the process of vetting the remaining 50 deputy ministerial nominees named by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said the minority had also expressed concerns about the way the process was being rushed in an attempt to push through the "elephant size" ministers.

"Even if you have genuine reasons for changing the timetable or the schedule, at least you should have called us, the other side, to discuss how we can also amend our programmes to suit the new schedule. This will afford us the opportunity to find out how we can do due diligence and the background investigations on the nominees, but they did not do this.

Speaking on the boycotts of the minority, the deputy Minority Leader, Hon. James Klutse Avedzi said "We will accommodate Friday but if we are unable to finish business, I don’t think that we will be in the position support to the Majority side again."

He noted that "We served notice that we will not sit beyond Wednesday, April 5, 2017 because when you look at the business of the House, apart from the work of the Appointments Committee which if the reports are not submitted to the House, the House cannot take any action. If you look at the work, you realized that the work could be done by end of Monday or Tuesday.

"So, we decided that if you should do the work on Monday or Tuesday, by Wednesday, we should be able to finish everything. When we came on Monday, there was nothing to do. Tuesday was the same and today, Wednesday, is not different from Monday and Tuesday. That tells you that there is a deliberate attempt by the Majority to delay the process so that the Appointments Committee can finish their work and then bring the reports to the House."