Article 78 (1) of the 1992 Constitution states that “Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament”.
However, this constitutional requirement is what Mr Adams cites as having compelled most Ministers of State to run as Parliamentary aspirants in the ongoing NDC primaries currently underway across the country; except the Greater Accra Region and some other selected Constituencies.
He explains that government officials with ministerial appointment should dissociate themselves from the parliamentary primaries and rather focus on their duties as Ministers.
He made this call in an interview on Joy FM’s News File this Saturday.
“I have a worry where in holding constituencies, we have ministers trying to take it away from where even sitting MPs are very good materials. I would have expected ministers to go where we are not holding”, he said.
According to him, he supports new party members running for parliamentary positions in order to ease the hefty load of duty on Ministers in the country.
“I would have loved the situation where if I come from a particular community and I have a Minister of State from my constituency and he’s not an MP. I would remain, even though your appointment as a Minister is related to whether the President wants you to be there or not; I would leave it for another person to be the MP, then, I can possibly continue to do what I am doing.”, he emphatically stated.
Even so, sitting Ministers and Members of Parliament have begun their campaigns to contest the parliamentary primaries but the NDC Deputy Chairman, Kofi Adams, says a bunch of them are doing so for political asylum to retain their positions in government.
“I can agree that [yes] people are rushing in there for protection because also the constitution plays an injunction on the President that more than fifty percent of your Ministers should come from parliament. So, people think that it’s a license to be appointed a Minister.”, he told the host.
He continued that the primaries will intensify in the constituencies, particularly parts of Northern Region and Eastern, adding that there is a possibility for Alhaji Abdulai Inusah Fuseini, MP for Tamale Central and Deputy Minister of Energy, to be re-elected in the Tamale Central parliamentary race.
In the Eastern Region, he said Mr Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, running for Lower Manya constituency in the primaries would have a hard nut to crack with his competitor, Michael Teye- Nyaunu.
Story by Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/ Xfm 95.1/ Accra/Ghana
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