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Ghana’s Parliament is yet to decide on the resignation of the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzato Ablakwa, from the Appointment Committee of Parliament, following the approval of the nomination of Ken Ofori-Atta as Minister of Finance.
The Member of Parliament officially wrote to the Speaker of Parliament just a few days before the last recess of Parliament to announce his resignation from the Committee on the grounds that the House’s approval of the President’s nominee was “against his personal principles and values.”
The Rt. Hon. Speaker Alban Sumana Bagbin told Parliament on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 during his opening remarks of the Second Meeting of the Eight Parliament that, he had forwarded the resignation letter to the Committee on Selection for consideration and report since it would have been prejudicial for him to have accepted the resignation of the Honourable Member without the consent of the Committee.
“By the rules of the House, my acceptance of his resignation would have been ultra-vires for my position and powers as a Speaker of Parliament. It was however, procedurally intra-vires for my position as the chairman of the Committee of Selection.
“Acting for and on behalf of the Committee, I accordingly received the letter on behalf of and for the consideration of the Committee which is duty bound to prepare, compose and present a report on the standing and select committees of the House for your approval,” he said.
According to the Speaker, the Committee which he summoned during the recess period to sit on the matter is yet to furnish the House with the report on its consideration of the letter.
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“The Members of the Committee were also recalled from recess to consider the purported resignation … of the Honourable Member. The Committee would soon finalize and present its report to the House for consideration. I will not preempt the outcome of the committee.”
In a letter dated March 30, 2021, and addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, the Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa explained that his decision to quit as a member of the committee came “after days of reflection and thoughtful considerations”, and that the “reasons for this difficult decision is both personal and on principle.”
He also indicated that the resignation was with immediate effect and that he would not be available for the vetting of the President’s nominees for Deputy Ministerial appointments to execute his second term mandate.
According to unofficial sources, the MP was of the view that Mr. Ofori Atta had performed abysmally as the Minister for Finance in the First term of President Akufo-Addo and ought not to be given a second opportunity to aggravate the situation.
It was further alleged that, though the Minority Members on the Committee agreed with him on the performance of the Minister, they disagreed with him on the rejection of his approval. They rather insisted that, since he was the one who had allegedly messed up the economy, he should be made to fix it by himself.
Source: Clement Akoloh || parliamentnews360.com
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