[ 2012-08-03 ]

Samuel Okudjeto-Ablakwa

Okudjeto-Ablakwa accuses Parliament of double standards
Deputy Minister of Information Samuel Okudjeto
Ablakwa has accused the Parliamentary Appointments
Committee (PAC) of unfair treatment to Vice
President Designate Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur
in their decision to conduct his vetting in
public.

“The Speaker of Parliament, who is the number
three person line to the presidency was never
vetted – the Chief Justice who is fourth in line
was vetted in camera and the National Security
Minister, Mr. Francis Poku was also vetted in
camera and yet PAC has decided to vet the number
two person in public and they want us to think
they are being fair,” he said on Metro TV Good
Morning Ghana Show on Friday.

The Parliamentary Appointments Committee announced
on Wednesday it will conduct the vetting of the
Vice President Designate in public on Monday,
August 6, 2012, and that has since generate some
public debate with members of both sides of the
political divide either supporting or kicking
against it.

Mr. Okudjeto-Ablakwa said the decision of PAC to
vet Mr. Amissah-Arthur in public smacks of double
standards, which is not good for the reputation of
Parliament as an institution.

He said the PAC’s decision indicates they intend
to tarnish the reputation of Mr. Amissah-Arthur by
asking him questions about payment of judgement
debts to Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome and others in
the full glare of the public.

“It obvious the they have seen that Mr.
Amissah-Arthur is a possible running mate to
President John Mahama in the December elections so
they want to use this process to throw political
blows at him,” he said.

He said he believed that when Parliament engaged
in such double standards without proper
justification that is problematic, because “how
can you explain how a National Security Minister
was vetted in camera but a Vice President
Designate is to be vetted in public.”

Mr. Okudjeto-Ablakwa said there was some merit in
the previous PAC vetting of persons in certain
sensitive positions in camera so the PAC should
have been consistent with that.

He said the decision to conduct the vetting in
public also gives merit to questions being raised
within the NDC of the performance of the Majority
in Parliament, adding that in the coming days, the
Majority Leader should explain to the people of
Ghana how come they sometimes allow the NPP and
the Minority to have their way.

Mr. Okudjeto-Ablakwa however noted that instead of
focusing on questions about judgement debt and
depleted currency, he would expect the PAC to find
out how Mr. Amissah-Arthur and his team at the
central bank were able to increase Ghana’s
reserves to record high, how they were able to
stabilize the cedi and interest rate until the
election year, and how he, as a board member of
COCOBOD, was able to achieve one million metric
tons of Cocoa.

But Communication Manager of the NPP, Nana Akomea
said Mr. Okudjeto-Ablakwa was being ‘horribly
unfair’ to the PAC in accusing them of double
standards because the Chair of the PAC, Mr. Edward
Doe Adjaho is with the NDC and majority of the PAC
members are from the NDC.

He noted that since it came public that Mr.
Amissah-Arthur would be vetted in public, leading
members of the NPP, like Mr. Yaw Osafo Maafo and
some other top National Executive of the NPP have
kicked against that decision, so it is not true
that the NPP has an agenda to run Mr.
Amissah-Arthur down.

Nana Akomea however noted that, even if the
purpose of the decision is to grill the Mr.
Amissah-Arthur in the open that is not wrong
because transparency is necessary to prevent
situations like the Woyome scandal.

“The Woyome question might come up with a purpose
to find out what gate-keeping measure he had at
the central bank to deal with such issues and if
there are none, what are his suggestions for the
future – but eventually Mr. Amissah-Arthur will be
approved unless something extraordinary happens,”
he said.

Source - Adom News

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