The Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, says the Minority Parliament’s decision to stage a walkout on Friday, May 17, during the approval of the new ministers is “unsurprising.”
Prior to the approval, the Minority in Parliament staged a walkout in anticipation of the approval of Ministers and Deputy Ministers-designate by President Akufo-Addo.
The group contends that the current economic and power crises are due to the government’s mismanagement, necessitating decisive action rather than new ministerial appointments.
Afenyo-Markin stated that the Minority acted in bad faith after agreeing on a consensus.
He mentioned that they couldn’t have amended the already laid report to reflect a majority decision as requested by the Minority in Parliament.
“There are a few surprises. We had agreed at the committee level to proceed on consensus. The report had been laid, and last minute, our colleagues said they wanted it by Majority decision, very unusual. Because we had our numbers we were not so worried. We said okay if you want it we will grant you that leave. We don’t want to create unnecessary rancour, because a report had already been laid, it’s too late in the day for you to come back and say that we should amend it to reflect majority decision.”
“Especially when we felt that they were proceeding in bad faith. All the nominees qualified under the constitution, so what is your basis for refusal? It was a political decision on their part, and we said ok, you can let go with it. When the time came, we were not surprised when they walked out. We had our numbers. They also tried a fast one on me when it came to the IDA.”
He defended the government’s decision to appoint new ministers.
“A decision of a President to constitute his cabinet is his bonafide by the constitutional mandate he has as President. You cannot come and say that you have to limit it to 10, 5, 6, he determines his government business. And he thinks that if he has this number of ministers in place, he will be able to function well. The issue is not about numbers. It’s very trivial, to say the least to argue on that tangent.”
The newly approved ministers include Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye as the Minister of Health, Lydia Seyram Alhassan as the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, and Dakoa Newman as the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, among others.
