It is now clear that President Nana Akufo-Addo will have to wait until May 2017 before he will have the full complement of his government to deliver on promises made ahead of the campaign.
This is because the Appointment Committee of Parliament will be unable to vet and approve all 54 deputy ministerial appointees before the Houses rises on March 31.
The committee has therefore decided to vet only 15 of the new deputy ministerial appointees in addition to all the four ministers of state at the presidency.
Member of the Appointment’s Committee Alhassan Suhyini told Joy news the committee has therefore agreed to vet the remaining appointees when the house returns from recess in the middle of May.
The Committee was racing against time to vet and approve all 54 latest deputy ministerial appointees before it rises on March 31.
However, the vetting is expected to begin on Friday, March 24 which meant the committee had barely six working days to vet all the appointees, something members of the Committee had cause to complain about.
The announcement of 50 deputy ministerial appointees and four ministers of state at the presidency shot president Akufo-Addo’s list of ministerial appointees to 110, the biggest in the country’s history.
The announcement triggered a vehement public uproar and an equally spirited defence by government spokespersons.
The President in defence of the huge number argued the job at hand is huge and needs an equally huge number of committed men and women to get his vision accomplished.
He was hoping to have the full complement of his ministerial appointees set before Parliament will rise but that hope has been dashed.
“We had a few problems agreeing on the number of people to vet a day. The proposal was for us to do ten but we thought it was unreasonable.
“Finally, the agreement that I am told we have is that we will do four (ministers of state) next week Monday then the following day we will do five, and will stick to doing five per day.
“We will go on recess and come and continue in May,” Alhassan Suhuyini said, adding if the president appointed less ministers, perhaps the committee would have been able to vet all of them before rising.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
