NDC caucus must explain why Nitiwul, Dery, Kan-Dapaa weren’t rejected – Tetteh Chai

The Greater Accra Regional Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Theophilus Tetteh Chai, has said the Members of Parliament on the side of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have to explain why they did not reject some minister-designates who were in charge of the country’s security during the 2020 general elections.

The Minority MPs on the Appointments Committee have so far rejected three of President Akufo-Addo’s 30 ministerial nominees.

Information Minister-designate Kojo Oppong Nkrumah; Minister-designate for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mavis Hawa Koomson and Minister-designate for Food Agriculture, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto have been rejected for various reasons.

Five others have been deferred to reappear for further questioning. They are Communication Minister nominee, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; Railway Minister nominee, John Peter Amewu; Roads Minister nominee, Kwasi Amoako-Attah; Attorney General and Minister of Justice nominee, Godfred Dame and Health Minister nominee, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu.

But speaking on the Morning Update on TV XYZ Tuesday morning, Tetteh Chai said at least five (5) Ghanaians were shot by some persons in security operatives’ uniform during the December polls, and for that matter, Minister for Interior nominee, Ambrose Dery; Minister for National Security nominee, Kan-Dapaa and Defense Minister nominee, Dominic Nitiwul do not deserve to be approved whereas they have not explained to Ghanaians why the young lads were shot with impunity.

“That is the only disappointment that most people are expressing,” Tetteh Chai noted as he argued that the three minister nominees be asked to explain to Ghanaians the reason behind the shooting incident.

“Prior to the 2020 elections, we had so many abuses of human rights by our security services. If we look at the military, the police service; most of the human rights abuses have been within that period and the general public expected that ministers who were in charge of Interior and Defence and National Security would have to answer to some of those atrocities,” he added.

He continued, “I’ll not be in the position to know what informed the decision to approve those ministers but we need explanation. Our members or caucus in terms of the Appointment Committee need to explain to us…You see, by explaining why Hawa Koomson and the rest have been rejected and the other 5 are on hold is giving a clearer picture that it is not out of vindictiveness but out of principles.”

“What we need clarity on is the issues of security breaches that occurred [during the elections]. And for that one, as a party we’ll demand that our Members of Parliament assign reasons,” Tetteh Chai told host Eric Ahinayo.

He said the party would want to know whether or not investigations into the shooting incidents cannot be linked to the aforementioned Minister-designates.