Appointments and Business Committees set up to begin business

Parliament on Tuesday adopted the Report of Committee of Selection and approved membership of the Appointments and Business Committees.
     Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, First Deputy Speaker is Chairman of the 26-member Appointments Committee and Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader as Vice Chairman.
     The 20-member Business Committee is chaired by Mr Alban Bagbin, Majority Leader and Mr John Tia, Deputy Majority Leader as Vice Chairman.
     Mr Bagbin, moving the motion for approval of the report, said the two committees needed to be instituted to enable the House programme itself, especially for the vetting of Ministers to be appointed by Government.
     Mrs Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, Speaker in her closing remarks before adjourning the House until January 27, expressed appreciation to members for their cooperation and support saying she had already had her baptism of fire in presiding over the House for a few days.
     She urged new members of the House to use the recess to study the Standing Orders and other documents to be abreast with the rules and practice of the House.
     Meanwhile, Mr Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, has questioned the position of some persons appointed by Government to have temporal oversight responsibilities over some key areas including Ministry of the Interior.
     He said Ministers were to be appointed and vetted by Parliament before they assumed responsibility for their Ministries and Parliament had oversight functions over these Ministries.
     Speaking at a press briefing at Parliament House, the Minority Leader said Parliament had not vetted nor approved any nominations and could therefore not call these temporal appointees to account for their stewardship if the need arose.
      The briefing was also used to introduce leadership of the Minority with Mr Ambrose Dery, as Deputy Minority Leader and Mr Frederick Opare-Ansah as Minority Chief Whip.
GNA