Rasheed Draman slams NPP MPs for ‘trivial questions’ during ministerial vetting

The Executive Director of the African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA), Rasheed Draman, has expressed disappointment in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) members of Parliament’s Appointments Committee, accusing them of squandering a key opportunity to hold the government accountable.

Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show (ABS) on Tuesday (21 January), Draman criticised the NPP’s approach during the vetting of President John Dramani Mahama’s ministerial nominees on Monday (20 January). 

He described their focus on irrelevant issues as a misstep in the democratic process.

“I think yesterday in particular, when I watched the proceedings, of course, coming on the back of what happened last week, I just concluded that this is accountability going wrong completely,” Draman remarked.

He argued that instead of using the session to rigorously examine the competence and credibility of the nominees, the opposition MPs fixated on matters he deemed trivial and off-topic.

“We saw the opposition NPP that we are going to rely on in this country to hold this supermajority government accountable; we saw them waste a lot of the opportunities that were given to them to hit hard and exact accountability from the nominees; rather, they used that time on trivial issues and issues that really have no bearing,” he said.

Draman singled out the minority leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, for criticism, stating that some of the issues he raised during the vetting were more appropriate for debates in Parliament’s plenary sessions.

“As a leader, I believe he has the opportunity all the time, either in committee sittings or in the plenary, to speak on national issues,” Draman said.

“So I would have thought that some of the issues that he brought to the committee, which were unrelated to the nominee, would have been issues that he could have reserved for maybe the much bigger platform of the plenary of parliament.”

“Rather, an hour plus was used to set a tone that was all wrong and in the process, as you can see, they ended up trying to rush the other nominees because they themselves were tired, as you can imagine.”

Draman urged the Appointments Committee to adopt a more targeted and effective approach in their vetting process. 

He emphasised the importance of scrutinising the President’s nominees based on their ability to serve the interests of Ghanaians.

“The purpose of the appointments committee is to do one sole thing. To check whether the people that His Excellency the President has nominated are people that we can trust to be accountable, are people that we can trust that when they are given the mandate, which is power and resources, they would work in the interest of Ghanaians,” he emphasised.

He concluded by calling for a sharper line of questioning that prioritises the qualifications and integrity of nominees rather than peripheral concerns.

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