Minority members of Parliament have decided to boycott the upcoming vetting of President John Mahama’s ministerial nominees.
The Appointments Committee is expected to sit to vet the six of the President’s nominees on Thursday.
The decision was arrived at following a National Executive Council meeting of the party with the Minority leadership in Parliament.
Confirming the decision on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme, Eyewitness News, Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul indicated that despite the thorough debate at the meeting, it was concluded that a similar position would be adopted for any decision that would cease to exist if the Supreme Court ruled against the legitimacy of President John Mahama as the President of the Republic.
“We have come to a definitive conclusion that we will excuse ourselves from participating in the work of the appointment committee in respect of the ministers that have been nominated,” He added.
He further added that the NPP would not be shirking its responsibilities with the boycott.
“Like the statement covered, the members of parliament the NPP side recognise that we have legislative responsibilities as well as representing our various people in the constituencies and yesterday I said we would not take a decision that the people of Ghana will not support. We will not abandon our duties and I can assure Ghanaians that we will actively participate in all legislative and other functions of government but we will not participate in any deliberations or decision taken by the president who will cease to exist when the Supreme Court determines that he won the elections fraudulently and should therefore step down.”
Dominic Nitiwul also said “this is the distinction that we want to make and that is basically the reason why we thought that if we were to vet the president’s nominees then we are giving legitimacy to the fact that he is recognised as the president and has won the election fairly.”
The MP however said while the NPP respects the fact that the constitution recognizes that the president, it is challenging that decision by the Electoral Commission.
“We will not participate in any decision that will cease to exist when the president is no more President by the decision of the Supreme Court but any decision that will continue to exist for example if a Supreme Court judge is nominated by the president today, the tenure of office of that judge is most likely to exceed that of the President if the Court decides in two or three months that he [President] is no more legitimate, the judge will still remain so when it comes to such instances, we will actively participate and vet that nominee even though it comes from that same president but anything that will cease to exist; ministers of state, government appointees or any decision the president will take that will cease to exist when he’s not president by the decision of the Supreme Court, we will not take part of at all.”
Hon. Nitiwul said the NPP will deal with government business on case by case basis.
“If the decisions of the budget will have repercussions on the state and would remain after the president is not in office, then we will take part but if we weigh those decisions and find out that the president’s budget decisions would not last, we will not take part at all.”
Source: Citifmonline
