The Chief of Staff should cancel any unapproved appointments of Minister-designates as presidential representatives, as demanded by the Minority in Parliament, who also wants Ministers-designate to desist from acting as the president’s representatives.
This request is in response to claims that the Chief of Staff appointed Minister-designates on an interim basis while they were awaiting legislative approval, using the title “Representative of the President.”
When he inspected medical facilities, ostensibly on behalf of the President, Dr. Bernard Okoe-Boye, the nominee minister of health, found himself at the center of the controversy. But he refuted claims that he was acting illegally while his parliamentary approval was being delayed within the Health Ministry.
The Minority stressed that Minister-designates, as nominees of the President, do not have the power to direct or carry out policy changes inside ministry agencies in a statement released by Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health and MP for Juaboso.
“The Minister-designate who is only a nominee of the President has no authority whatsoever to instruct or direct, implement or propose policy changes for agencies within a sector ministry and therefore under what power or authority does he/she summon CEOs and other heads of institutions, who may be busy with their official schedules, to grant him audience or presentations on their management of state institutions?
“The Minority in Parliament would therefore like to advise the Chief of Staff to revoke all illegal appointments appointing Minister-designates as Representatives of the President. We further caution persons so appointed to stop holding themselves out as Representatives of the President to designated Ministries. We urge all members of the public, particularly public sector workers not to extend any privilege reserved for Ministers to such persons.”
The minority drew attention to the fact that the 1992 constitution opposes the appointment of president delegates to Ministries of State.
“Therefore, for a highly regulated power centre such as the Presidency, it is ultra vires for the Chief of Staff who derives all her powers from the President as prescribed by the 1992 constitution to be creating new offices alien to the constitution.”
The caucus declared that a minister represents the President in the ministry to which they are assigned, in addition to the power and authority bestowed by the constitutional instrument of office and laws passed and ratified.
“It is therefore ultra vires for the Chief of Staff to ascribe a primary function of a Minister to a person not so appointed. Article 78(1) of the 1992 constitution states, “Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament….”
“This clearly indicates that the appointment process can only occur after approval of Parliament. Therefore, Minister-designates are at most nominees whose presence in government institutions should amount to nothing more than a visit of an ordinary citizen and that is without Ministerial privilege or authority whatsoever,”
the caucus declared.
The Minority further proclaimed it illegal for any person to appear before a Ministry in the capacity of a President’s representative and to exercise any kind of executive authority pertaining to supervising, monitoring, directing, or managing state institutions.
“It is for this reason that where a substantive appointment has not been made to a specific ministry, a Minister appointed to another ministry and clothed with the constitutional instrument of office is directed by the President to act as ‘caretaker’ Minister for the ministry,” it added.
