"I will rise above party rivalry"-- Speaker
Appointments Committee defers hearing on
Nduom
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 Feb. 2001
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr
Peter Ala Adjetey on Friday re-assured the House that he will rise above party
rivalry in his duties and will not do any favour to any of the parties.
Reacting to the confusion in the
House on Thursday (yesterday) in which he was alleged to have walked out, the
Speaker accused the media of distorting what actually happened. In a speech
just after prayers, he said he did not walk out and asked the press to correct
the error.
Mr Adjetey said although he is a
founding member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) "and now the Speaker, I
sit here to discharge my duties. I do not sit here to please any political
party. I will not be a stooge to any party."
He said as a human being he is
fallible adding, "making a mistake is not anything new. I have never, ever
ran away from speaking the truth, even if that means going to prison", he
said.
After the brief speech Mr Adjetey
immediately called for business in the House to proceed and Mr J.H. Mensah,
Leader of Government Business shot up and began to present the business for
next week.
GRi../
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Appointments Committee defers hearing on
Nduom
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 February 2001
Public hearing on Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, Minister designate for Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation was suspended by the Appointments Committee on Friday to enable members study documents related to investigations conducted on him by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader had asked Dr Nduom to tell the committee what charges the SFO preferred against him in their investigations.
The Minister-designate replied that the investigations did not directly involved him but that he was roped in an investigation by the SFO on the State Enterprises Commission (SEC).
Dr Nduom intimated that his citizenship, business entities including an agreement with the SEC, tax obligations and place of abode were investigated. "I still don't understand what might have led to the attack. The army invaded my house and somebody wanted to get me fired from my company in the United States."
He assured members of the committee that he would make sure in his capacity as a minister, if given the nod, "that nobody goes through what I had been through."
The answer did not seem to satisfy Mr Bagbin, who insisted that Dr Nduom told the committee the specific charge on which he was investigated and that his action was not by impulse but on a document he had received on Dr Nduom.
Mr Bagbin said he had notified Mr Freddie Blay, chairman of the committee about the document and he expected the chairman to act accordingly. The Minority Leader suggested that the committee rose into a caucus meeting to deliberate on the issue.
The chairman agreed that he had seen the petition in question but since it was not signed he felt it was irrelevant to the business of the committee.
Supporting Mr Bagbin, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, member of the committee said the committee has a duty to the people and government of Ghana and the nominee himself to clear any doubts about Dr Nduom, as he would soon become a minister.
The committee retired into a caucus meeting for about an hour and when it reconvene the chairman announced that the assessment of Dr Nduom should be deferred to Monday or Tuesday next week.
Earlier Dr Nduom had assured members of the committee that he would work closely with the National Development Planning Commission and other planning agencies to move the economic forward.
He said his ministry would structure an "economic plan which would be followed on a day to day basis to meet our aspirations as a nation," and engineer strategies of co-operation with Ghana's neighbours for the benefit of their people.
He said a monetary policy to ensure that the cedi is stronger than it is at the moment would be his priority and he would work out a fiscal policy to define how the nation generates and spends revenue.
Dr Nduom becomes the second ministerial nominee whose vetting has to be suspended to enable committee members to investigate allegations of impropriety against him after Mr Felix Owusu-Agyapong.
GRi…/
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