By The initial group of vetted ministerial nominees appointed by President Akufo-Addo will now progress smoothly through Parliament.
The minority members of the appointments committee, who initially rejected the 9 ministerial nominees, have now reversed their decision.
According to an earlier report obtained by Starr News, the committee had recommended to the plenary the approval of the nominees by majority decision after the rejection by the NDC MPs.
However, another report in possession of Starr News how has now cleared Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer headed for the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Minister designated for the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources Lydia Seyram Alhassan, Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah nominated as the minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, Health Minister-designate Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, Information Minister Designate Fatimatu Abubakar and for others cleared to be approved by consensus.
The development means their nominations will be approved by a simple voice vote instead of a secret ballot.
The earlier decision by the minority would have resulted in the rejection of the nominees by the plenary if all 137 MPs on their side had voted against them, considering the unfortunate passing of Ejisu MP Dr. John Kumah, which balanced the numbers.
At the onset of President Akufo-Addo’s second term, some of his appointees, including Fisheries Minister Mavis Hawa Koomson, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, and Agric Minister Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, faced rejection by the minority during the committee stage.
However, they received significant support from several NDC MPs during the plenary session, as evidenced by the outcome of the secret ballot vote.
A similar development took place when the party directed the minority MPs to reject replacements of ministers who had resigned to contest the NPP Presidential Primaries such as KT Hammond, Bryan Acheampong among others.
It is however unclear if the above developments have informed the decision by the minority to walk back on the rejection this time around despite the arguments President Akufo-Addo’s government is still bloated and thus would not assist him to further populate it 9 months to an election.
