The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu and a Member of the Appointment Committee in Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said his fellow members on the committee from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) side shall not be a group of reckless obstructionists.
However, “but we do not also intend to serve as mere conveyor belts or jinxed accomplices either,” Mr Ablakwa indicated.
He has, therefore, sent a word of caution to the ministerial nominees to prepare before appearing before the committee to be vetted.
Mr Okudzeto was responding to calls from some Ghanaians and NDC party activists to the Minority Group in Parliament who are on the Appointment Committee not to accept kick-backs and give a nod to some appointees who have ‘blood’ on their hands.
It would be recalled that the President, last Friday, forwarded a list of ministers he intend to work with to the Speaker of Parliament. The Appointment Committee, which is made up of 26 members, with 13 each from either side, is expected to kick start work.
The Majority Group had asked the Speaker, Mr Alban S.K. Bagbin, to delay the vetting until an amendment of Parliament’s Standing Orders was completed, but this motion was rejected by Speaker Bagbin.
Nominees like Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Hawa Koomson, Ken Ofori Atta, Dominic Ntiwul, Peter Amewu and others are expected to go through a marathon grilling.
Party activists of the NDC on social media are sending signals to their side not to attempt to accept kick-backs and pass certain nominees who have ‘blood’ on their hands. It is apparently as a result of the allegation that has forced the North Tongu MP to take to his Twitter handle to deflate the allegation of kickbacks.
Mr Ablakwa wrote: “The conspiracy theories against the NDC members of Parliament Appointment Committee, and the larger NDC Caucus, are most unfair, vexatious, malicious and downright offensive.
“We have demonstrated enough grit since the election of [the] Speaker to prove to the world that we cannot be influenced by inducements, neither are we pushovers. We are simply unbribable and absolutely impenetrable.”
The North Tongu legislature assured his NDC followers that Ghanaians did not bestow upon them (NDC) impressive numbers in Parliament only to use it for dirty deals with what he described as ‘forces of darkness’.
“Ghanaians did not bestow upon us these impressive numbers in Parliament only to use it for dirty deals with the forces of darkness. That will represent a betrayal of the people’s mandate in the most obscene and unconscionable terms. We are confident that our work on the committee shall vindicate our integrity.”
The post Ablakwa: We shall not be reckless obstructionists appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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