The Majority leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has revealed he will actively participate in cabinet meetings in spite of his exclusion from the cabinet list by the President.
The 19-member list communicated to Parliament Tuesday May 30, 2017, by President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo excluded some portfolios which hitherto had been part of cabinet.
The Cabinet ministers include Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance, Mr. Dominic Nitiwul, Minister of Defence, Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister of the Interior, and Mr. Boakye Agyarko, Minister of Energy.
Ms. Gloria Akuffo, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister of Agriculture, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education and Mr Kwaku Agyemang-Manu, Minister of Health also made the list.
Others are Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei, Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Dan Kweku Botwe, Minister of Regional Reorganisation and Development, John Peter Amewu, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources and Joe Ghartey, Minister of Railway Development.
The rest are Ignatius Bafuor Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Kweku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, Catherine Afeku, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts and Mavis Hawa Koomson, Minister for Special Development Initiative.
Some members of Parliament have questioned the exclusion of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs from the list.
Bode MP Sampson Ahi on the floor registered his displeasure arguing the President’s decision suggests the Affairs of the Legislature is not a priority to him.
However in an interview with Starr News, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu defended the cabinet list. According to the Suame lawmaker, he does not need to make the list to partake in cabinet meetings.
“Well, I’m invited, I’m always there and the last two meetings when I wasn’t there the President was not happy. Because I had to do some programs outside, and because I skipped two, he insisted that the third one I should be there. I was there and I gave some report. So that’s how it is,” he stated.
He added: “So please, don’t have any inhibitions, don’t have any jitters, it is from each according to his worth, according to his competence”.
Some of the major portfolios excluded from Nana Addo’s cabinet include Communications Ministry headed by Ursula Owusu Ekufful, Ministry of Works and Housing headed by Atta Akyea, Local Government and Rural Development with Hajia Alima Mahama as Minister. Prof. Frimpong Boateng’s Ministry of Science and Technology, Kwesi Amoako-Atta’s Ministry of Road and highways, Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo and National Security Ministry led by Kan Dapaah.
