The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, said on Channel One TV’s The Big Issue that congratulating nominees while the parliamentary approval process was still ongoing could create the impression that the outcome had already been determined.
Speaking with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Saturday, September 5, Mr Amoah criticised the practice, saying it risks being perceived as a rubber‑stamping job rather than a rigorous assessment of nominees. “It is beginning to seem like a mere formality, I’m afraid,” he said. “You see, if you want us to have confidence in the fact that when you see the Appointments Committee sit, they are there to dispassionately interrogate the nominees or people who have been appointed, and they are not there to do a rubber‑stamping job.”
He added that the committee’s responsibility was to scrutinise nominees and make recommendations to plenary on whether they merited the offices for which they had been nominated. “Your CV might matter for the optics, you know, the cameras; they would read and laugh, and somebody will say, ‘Oh, congratulations on your appointment.’ You are congratulating a nominee. No, it’s not okay. Congratulate the person after plenary has probably allowed or passed them,” he said.
Mr Amoah warned that the vetting process should not become a “charade”. He urged committee members to ask relevant questions about nominees and the institutions they were to lead. “Don’t let us see that the nominees come before you and everything becomes a charade of a sort. Sometimes, no questions at all,” he said.
He also called for reforms to the composition and operations of the Appointments Committee as Ghana undertakes a constitutional review process. He proposed stronger minority representation to improve scrutiny and reduce partisan influence. “We are going through a constitutional review process. I would wish that the Appointments Committee, going forward, just like the Public Accounts Committee, could even have more minority members,” he said.
The call comes amid allegations that a GH¢70,000 payment was offered to Deputy Minority Leader and Asokwa MP Patricia Appiagyei in connection with the vetting of two ministerial nominees and three Supreme Court nominees. The Office of the Special Prosecutor has commenced preliminary investigations to establish the veracity and source of the alleged payment. Mrs Appiagyei has denied receiving or returning the payment and described the memorandum as fabricated.
Mr Amoah maintained that the controversy should prompt Parliament to strengthen its vetting procedures and restore public confidence in the institution by ensuring that nominees are subjected to meaningful and independent scrutiny.
