Prez. Mahama picks 11 Ministers

• Posted on June 25, 2014June 25, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

President John Mahama has nominated 11 persons for various ministerial positions in his recent reshuffle.

The list, which has since been forwarded to the Appointments Committee of Parliament, include President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), Nii Osah Mills, who has been nominated as Minister-designate for Lands and Natural Resources, scheduled to take over from the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini.

Parliament as an institution, has therefore put out a notice informing the public about the nomination of the 11 people for various ministerial portfolios and their subsequent appearance before the Appointments Committee which will be holding public hearings from Wednesday July 9 to Friday July 11, 2014 to consider the nominations in accordance with Articles 78, 79 and 256 of the 1992 Constitution and Order 172 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.

The rest are Dr. Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, pencilled as Minister-designate for Health; James Zuuhga Tiigah, Minister-designate for the Upper East Region, who is taking over from Dr. Ephraim Avea Nsoh; Aquinas Tawiah Quansah for Central Region and Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere, who is moving to the Eastern Region from his previous portfolio as Deputy Minister of Labour and Employment.

MP for Kpando Dela Sowah has also been made Deputy Minister-designate for Gender, Children Affairs and Social Protection – taking over from Sena Okity Duah who is replacing Aquinas Quansah as Deputy of Fisheries and Aquaculture, while one Dr. Victor Asare Bampoe, senior Fund Portfolio Manager at the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria based in Geneva, Switzerland, has been pencilled as Deputy Minister of Health with Jonny Osei Kofi, a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) nominated as Deputy Minister-designate of Water Resources, Works and Housing.

Former Deputy Chief of Staff under the late President Atta Mills’ administration, Alex Segbefia, gets his first call-up to serve in the Mahama administration, having been nominated as Deputy Minister-designate of Defence, while Mona Helen Quartey, a former board member for Merchant Bank, was named Deputy Minister-designate of Finance and Economic Planning, with one Ato Sarpong having been nominated Deputy Minister-designate of Communications. He replaces Victoria Hamah, who lost her job over the VikiLeaks saga.

Even before they appear before the Appointments Committee, DAILY GUIDE has picked up signals that some members of the public had already sent petitions against some of the President’s nominees, seeking to block their confirmation to the various positions they have been appointed to occupy, because of their questionable conducts.

 By Charles Takyi-Boadu