Parliament confirms Bamba after hectic debate

Parliament on Thursday approved the appointment of Alhaji Moctar Musah Bamba, NPP-Wenchi East as Deputy Minister for Presidential Affairs after more than four hours debate on the issue of his qualification.

The Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey asked for a secret ballot since there was no consensus. In the end 115 members voted for his approval, 59 against and 12 abstained.

Alhaji Bamba required 89 votes to receive approval.

Mr Freddie Blay, Chairman of the Appointments Committee moved the Motion for the adoption of the Seventh Report of the Committee on Deputy Ministerial Nomination of Bamba.

The report of the Committee indicated that it held a number of sittings and applied its time-tested method of getting informed opinion as to the competence, eligibility and experience of nominees.

It said the media was used as a conduit for advertisement to solicit for public opinion in the form of submissions on the suitability or otherwise of the nominee and also relied on the expertise of a state intelligence institution to verify the credentials of the nominee.

The report said the nominee was extensively interviewed on oath, however, at the public hearing, the issue of his qualification was raised.

It said a Member had posed a question to the nominee as to whether he had an Association of International Accountants (AIA) Foundation "A" Accounting Certificate, which appeared on his curriculum vitae to which he answered in the affirmative.

After the nominee delayed in producing the certificate, the Committee at a caucus meeting later decided to conduct further investigations to ascertain the veracity of his assertion that he had a certificate.

Alhaji Bamba later informed the committee that he had not been able to trace the certificate.

He said he left it with his late uncle, with whom he was staying in Nigeria and all efforts to trace it proved futile, as the personal belongings of his late uncle had not been kept intact after his death.

The report said the committee considered securing a confirmation from the awarding institution but could not proceed further as the said certificate was awarded over 20 year ago by the AIA.

The index number could not be traced and the private institution where Alhaji Bamba underwent the study had all it files burnt in a students' demonstration.

It said in the light of the foregoing, the overwhelming majority of the Members decided to recommend the nomination of the nominee for approval arguing that the said certificate referred to was too basic to boast about, moreover it was not a requirement for the appointment.

However, some Members insisted that the Deputy Minister-designate had not been forthright with the Committee and that they were opposed to his appointment.

However, by a majority decision the Committee recommended to the House to approve Alhaji Bamba's nomination for the position.

Mr Abraham Ossei Aidoo, NPP-Tema -West, said the main issue was the lack of producing a certificate from the AIA and that it should not form a basis for his disqualification.

Mr Albin Bagbin, the Minority Leader, said the nominee had a hectic time during the screening exercise because he stated in his curriculum vitae that he had it but failed to produce it.

He said the issue now was whether the Member lied to the Committee or he was truthful.

Mr Bagbin called on the Members to be objective in analysing the suitability of the nominee since according to him this was a matter of integrity and not of principle.

He said the decision would be a test case for the government, which claims accountability and zero tolerance for corruption if it would accept a Member, who could not be trusted to such a high office.

Alhaji Malik Al-hassan Yakubu, NPP-Yendi and Minister of the Interior, said it would be wrong to accuse the nominee of lying to the Committee since the committee's positive position was that the certificate was an ordinary document and which should not interfere in his appointment.

Dr Kwabena Adjei, NDC- Biakoye, said the nominee was a colleague but that there was the need for all to project a positive image of the House.

He said the problem was that Alhaji Bamba sought to lie that he obtained a certificate at the foundation level of the AIA whereas it was only result slips that are normally awarded and the strange part too was the burning of all documents at his former school.

Dr Adjei urged Members to take the decision in approving the nominee with caution and to reject it regardless of tribal or religious sentiments.

Mrs Edith Haizel, NDC-Evalue-Gwira, called on Members to reject the nominee on matters of principle since he volunteered to produce to his certificate but failed to do so.

She wondered why there was a lot of hue and cry about the nominee and the apparent delay in presenting his case to the House and added that it was apparent that it was a ploy to get him cleared at all cost.

Mr Jacob S. Arthur, NDC-Mfantsiman West, said international awarding institutions were particular about their documents and so the issue should be put on hold until the school was contacted.

Nana Akufo-Addo, NPP-Abuakwa, said the accusation that a member lied was a serious issue and appealed to some members of the Minority to desist from labelling him as such since they could infer that the nominee lied to the Committee. He asked them to apologise and support the nomination.

Mr Joe Adjaho, NDC- Avenor, said the matter was putting the House on societal and integrity trial and all must guide against taking any decision that could soil the image of the august body.

Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, NDC- Wenchi-West, said he believed that justice must be done not withstanding that he and the nominee hailed from the same district and that he was convinced that Alhaji Bamba lied to the committee on oath.

He said there were several cases of people, who posed as engineers, doctors or public officers, who were arrested and sentenced and if a nominee lied to an appointing authority and was confirmed then God save the country.

Mr Nketiah said the committee never conducted any form of investigation at all and it never wrote to any institution to verify the truth of the nominee's qualification but just found him innocent.

He recounted that previous appointment committees after finding that some nominees had lied to Parliament, advised the government and they were subsequently withdrawn.