‘Trial-and-error’ ministers Ghana’s bane – Minority Leader

Minority Leader, Osei Kyei–Mensah-Bonsu has said parliament must comply with provisions in the constitution when approving ministerial appointees to rid the nation of the “create, loot and share syndrome”.

The minority leader also called on the executive to take into consideration the competence, capacity, wisdom and managerial skills of persons before nominating them as ministerial appointees in order to rid the nation of ‘trial-and-error ministers.'

Mr. Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu was speaking at the first Symposium on Law and Public Policy in Accra on Tuesday, 19 April 2016, on the theme: ‘Laws that work: rethinking Ghana's National Developmental Path.'

“Ministers are appointed by the president with the prior approval by parliament to assist the president as article 76 (2) provides,” he stated.

“Assisting the president to determine policy for government requires competence. Running a sector of the state officially is not child’s play; it is not trial-and-error. It is born out of one’s deep knowledge, competence, capacity, intelligence, managerial skills and above all wisdom,” the Suame Member of Parliament added.

According to him, if parliament were to comply with the constitutional imperatives during the approval process, then the scenario of “please let me have the opportunity to go to the Ministry and I will learn” shall become a thing of the past.

“The nation will be spared the ‘Mepaa menie syndrome’ (is this truly me syndrome), which leads us to the ‘create, loot and share super highway’”, he noted.