President John Dramani Mahama, whose legitimacy is being challenged at the Supreme Court of Ghana, has come under attack for neglecting Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Eastern Region in appointment of his ministers.
The president has finished appointing his substantive ministers and none of the Appointees is an MP from the Eastern Region, a stronghold of the opposition NPP, a situation which already generating resentment within the Eastern NDC parliamentary caucus.
The NDC won eight seats out of the 33 seats in the Eastern region but none of the MPs have caught the eye of the president yet.
The list of NDC MPs from the Eastern region is headed by the MP for Upper West Akyem, Hon Joseph Sam Amankwanor, who is in his third term as a legislator. Others include Hon Emmanuel Aboakye Didieye of the Afram Plains North who is also in his second term. The rest are Magnus Kofi Amoatey, MP for Yilo Krobo; Ebenezer Terlabi, MP for Lower Manya Krobo, a former deputy Eastern Regional Minister and lecturer at KNUST; Hon Joseph Appiah Boateng, MP for Afram Plains South; Baba Jamal Mohammed Ahmed, MP for Akwatia, also a former deputy General Secretary of the NDC, a former Deputy Minister for Tourism, Information and Eastern Region and Hon Jeff Kavianu, MP for Upper Manya Krobo.
The MPs, though unhappy with the situation, declined to comment except to say the president should be allowed to form his team and advance the Better Ghana Agenda.
The Chairman of the Eastern Regional Caucus of NDC MPS and MP for Upper West Akyem, Hon Joseph Sam Amankwanor, would also not comment on the matter. However, a source close to the presidency told this paper that the president is still considering what role the NDC MPs from the Eastern Region can play in his administration, but added the MPs do not meet the expectation of the president.
NDC members from the eight constituencies in the region where they won their seats are also not happy that none of their MPs have been appointed as a minister or deputy. In their view, the president is being unfair to the Eastern Region especially when more MPs from the three Northern Regions have been appointed as ministers.
Information Minister, Mahama Ayariga, in an attempt to clarify the issue about President John Mahama�s ongoing appointment, said the president is not obliged to appoint people known in political circles into ministerial positions.
The President has been criticized for appointing persons relatively unknown in the country�s politics. But Mr. Ayariga explained that President Mahama does enough consultation before nominating persons for Ministerial positions.
�It should be a familiar pattern now that President John Dramani Mahama is noting widely when recruiting people to serve in government as Ministers and or Deputy Ministers,� he said.
According to him, the President�s focus in selecting the Ministers �is their ability to deliver and that they are Ghanaians and that they are willing to promote the government�s agenda and that they are capable. That is what we are looking at.�
Source: The Publisher/Ghana
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