What has Viagra got to do with vetting?

Assume for a moment that you are one of President John Kufuor?s newly appointed ministers. By the 4th republican constitution parliament must vet and approve new appointees before they can work in their new offices.

But what will you say if the Parliamentary Appointment Committee asked you if you have ever used Viagra, the aphrodisiac?

Well, at Thursday's vetting John Mahama a ranking member of the minority NDC and the vetting committee asked the deputy Minister of Information designate, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, if he had ever tried Viagra.

Amidst laughter Asamoah-Boateng roared back with his head tipped downwards: ?No, I haven?t.?

He, however said he could secure a discount for Mahama if he needed some Viagra.

Mahama?s question was premised on the fact that, while Asamoah-Boateng was living in Britain, he worked as a business analyst for Pfizer Medical Technology Group, one of the world?s leading pharmaceutical companies.

?I developed strategic business and financial report that evaluated the value of the Group?s customers. I successfully created a central database to assist in market research and also assisted in the marketing of the Group?s innovative product, Viagra,? said a CV Asamoah-Boateng submitted to the vetting committee.

The first two days of vetting ministers and deputy ministers-designate produced mixed reaction and some light moments from the parliamentary vetting committee. None of the committee members will talk to the media about their private assessment of the vetted candidates.

The deputy Women and Children?s Affairs minister designate, Ignatius Poku-Adusei turned in one of the shortest CVs ? barely a page long. If his CV was short, his responses to questions clearly framed to solicit copious answers were even shorter.

He basically gave one word, at most one-sentence answers, prompting Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni to wonder whether Poku-Adusei really studied Law and Sociology for his first degree.

?You?re being economical with your answers,? Alhaji Mumuni charged, adding you ?should display as a lawyer.? Nana Akomea and some of the committee quietly shared jokes about Poku-Adusei?s responses.

On countless occasions panel members had to rephrase or reframe their questions.

He told the panel that he was going to the Women and Children?s Affairs Ministry to represent men and educate the ?large? number of women at the Ministry about men.

This drew giggles from the vetting committee and the audience. The chairman of the vetting committee and first Deputy Speaker, Freddie Blay asked him how he knew the Ministry was made up of only women. Poku-Adusei answered questions on polygamy, wife battering and child labour.

By far, Alan Kyeremateng Minister of Trade and Industry designate, Dr. Samuel Nii Ashong and Stephen Asamoah-Boateng dazzled the vetting committee with explicit understanding of their fields and the ministries they are assigned. Alan Kyeremateng, one of the principal architects of the President?s Special Initiative came with the largest entourage of well-wishers. This included some of his colleagues at the Ghana Embassy in Washington DC.

Kyeremateng set out one of the clearest agendas. He said macro-economic stabilization alone cannot move the country out of it?s current stagnating state. He said his agenda is to plan and direct a comprehensive export-led industrialization growth economy

His programme will have rural dwellers as the propellers. Any development strategy that does not fully involve the rural masses can only produce growth in statistical figures but not real growth.

He cited the President?s Special Initiative through which a group of 5,000 farmers today own a $7 million industrial starch making plant as what can turn the economy round.

But Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni wondered if by christening the President?s Special Initiative as such, the Kufuor administration was not up to creating a personality cult around the President and duplicating the functions of the Agriculture and Trade ministries.

Kyeremateng disagreed. The programme was meant to solicit the highest level of political commitment, Kyeremateng justified.

He explained that the cassava/starch project cuts across a multiplicity of ministries and agencies therefore having a separate secretariat will eliminate redtapeism that have docked similar innovative projects over the years. Until his appointment, Kyeremateng was Ghana?s ambassador to the United States. He is also the first chief executive of Empretec Ghana Foundation. Ashong is one of two non-parliamentarians who appeared before the committee. The other is Kyeremateng.

For nearly five minutes, Dr. Ashong expounded uninterrupted on how to refocus and move the economy out of the wreckage of near dislocation when he took his turn.

Ashong said he is going to the Planning Ministry with fresh ideas to get Ghana out of the trappings of the Bretton Woods institutions.

He answered questions from why he lived 19 years abroad to the impasse over the true rate of inflation for February.

But Ashong surprised the committee when he said he does not belong to any political party. ?If things are not right, am gonna voice it out,? he said. Ashong?s sister is the NDC MP for Kpong-Katamanso, Naa Afieye Ashong. His sister was absent at the vetting.

He neither disagreed nor agreed with the 29.1 per cent inflation rate for February. He explained that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) gathered their data in the middle of the turbulence set by the fuel price hikes. The GSS should have returned to the field after two to three weeks to gather fresh data. He said public hedging in the US dollar and other foreign currencies is a realistic economic decision. He explained that until the cedi is stable over a long period, people would continue to buy and hoard foreign currencies. Asamoah-Boateng defended the creation of the Ministry of Information besides the many government spokespersons and the President?s spokesman. He said the Ministry of Information is expected to explain government policies to all sectors of the Ghanaian population and collate the views of the public to guide the administration.

However, he acknowledged that their duties overlap, therefore there is a need to synchronise their activities to eliminate the apparent ambiguities. Asamoah-Boateng announced that the impasse between the National Economic Dialogue (NED) and the Electoral Commission over the national identification system is nearly settled.

The NED coordinator stopped short of providing details. The vetting committee was clearly satisfied with his response as they failed to push for the details. ?I am for freedom of expression, association?? Asamoah-Boateng said in response to a question whether he would support the privatisation of the state-owned media.

?Their status as they are today is okay.? He explained that the level of the country?s development demands a clear leadership making it imperative for government to have a direct access to the larger public ? in this case the state-owned media. He however supports the Freedom of Information Bill. ET Mensah, the former Sports Minister and member of the vetting committee used the vetting session to distance himself from the barbers of the ex-President Jerry Rawlings. ?I have never barbered anybody before,? he claimed.

Joseph Akudibillah deputy Minister of Defence designate and MP for Garu-Tempane presented the most comprehensive CV.

His response to how justified is the United State/British war in Iraq sent the committee members shaking their heads sideways in apparent disagreement. Akudillah said his priority at the Defence Ministry will be to improve military-civilian relations. To this effect he suggested the setting up of cadet corps in all senior secondary schools ?to break the myth surrounding the military.? An independent MP, Akudibillah said his acceptance of an appointment for the ruling party does not contradict with his own conviction of the need for a strong opposition in Parliament.

Mustapha Ali Idris Minister of Works and Housing designate declined to stick his neck out on the contentious water privatization issue except to say that the Ghana Water Company will retain all its infrastructure if private investors ever get involved urban water production and supply. He said the real problem of GWC is poor management, citing the late delivery of bills and leakages.

Smiling throughout the vetting, the former deputy Foreign Minister said he will work to bridge the 500,000 deficit in the housing sector and the completion of the Korle Lagoon restoration project.

But E.T. Mensah wondered if Idris has the political guts to relocate squatters along the Korle Lagoon to allow the restoration project to continue. Idris said he will pursue face-to-face dialogue with the squatters before relocating them elsewhere. ?Some of the people are my relatives, friends and constituents,? he said.

Edward Akita designated to as Minister incharge of Fisheries raised eyebrows when he said, ?behind every successful minister there is a deputy minister.? Akita was quickly reminded that he will not have a deputy at his new office. A member of the vetting committee had suggested that the President was moving him from the Defence Ministry because he was ineffective there.

His priority, Akita said will include introducing modern fishing techniques, strengthen community-based fishing groups and weed out fake fish importers and the premix fuel racket.

He explained that the sporadic shortage of premix fuel for fishing is the work of a ?well orchestrated mafia? made up of fishermen, local opinion leaders and some well-placed public officials.

The second day of vetting was held up for about 45 minutes after the Minority NDC members of the vetting committee served notice that they were accompanying another NDC member to the police station.

The CID had invited Ama Benyiwa-Doe, NDC MP for Gomoa West for a pronouncement during the campaigns leading to last week?s Gomoa East by-election. The ruling party retained the seat by beating the NDC to a distant second place.