Vetting of Ato Forson, Ayine & Jinapor was against Standing Orders of Parliament – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu

Former Majority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has said the vetting of the first three ministerial nominations made by President Mahama did not follow the due process of the standing orders of Parliament.

The former MP for Suame in the Ashanti Region explained that per the standing orders of the House, a Committee on Selection should have been formed which will be chaired by the Speaker and will subsequently select members to constitute the standing and sitting committees of the House before they could proceed with any business.

However, an Appointments Committee was formed to carry on with the vetting of the ministerial nominees in defiance of Order 205 of the Standing Orders of the House.

Order 205 of the Standing Orders of Parliaments states that: The Committee of Selection shall comprise the Speaker as the Chairperson and not more than 14 Members of Parliament. The Committee on Selection shall prepare a report to the House within the first 10 sitting days after appointment, the list of members to compose the standing and sitting committees of the House. 

In an exclusive interview with TV3’s Eric Mawuena Egbeta, the second longest serving Member of Parliament in Ghana’s Fourth Republic noted that the Speaker’s action and that of the Appointments Committee is a gross violation of the acceptable practice.

“The Committees have not been set up and the Speaker of Parliament is the Chairman of the Committee on Selection which is supposed to set up these committee and the Speaker knows that the committee has not been set up,” Kyei-Mensah Bonsu said.

In his view, the Speaker should have formed the Committee of Selection to immediately begin its work before adjourning the House, so that members should have stayed behind to perform crucial duties.

“I felt that what ought to have been done, acknowledging that the committees have not been done yet, would have been, once the names came, the clerks to the committees be known and the clerks would then do the advertisement on behalf of the emerging committees” for the processes to continue.

“I felt what ought to have been done immediately would have been for the Committee of Selection to have been composed so that if they have to go away for about one week or so, the Committee [would have stayed to perform those important assignments,” he added.

The post Vetting of Ato Forson, Ayine & Jinapor was against Standing Orders of Parliament – Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu first appeared on 3News.

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