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Minority raise concern over absence
of Sports Minister to answer questions
Accra, June 16, Ghanadot/GNA –
Members of the Minority New Patriotic Party (NPP) in
Parliament on Tuesday raised issues over the absence of the
Sports Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak to answer
an urgent question concerning the level of preparations for
the Africa Hockey Championship in July, this year.
Mr Isaac Asiamah, NPP Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima
Mponua and Ranking Member for the Youth and Sports Committee
asked the question at the sittings of Parliament.
The question was scheduled to be answered by the Sports
Minister as part of the agenda for the day.
The Majority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, during question time,
however, stood up to explain that the Minister was on leave
as well as the Chief Director and the Principal Accountant
of the Ministry and therefore they were not readily
unavailable to provide the needed answers.
Mr Bagbin also conceded on the urgency of the question
because the tournament is scheduled to take off in a matter
of days.
He, however, craved the indulgence of the House and the
Speaker, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo for the question to be
put on hold until an appropriate time.
The Minority Leader told the House that the Sports Minister
and the other officials who are all on leave, are part of an
ongoing investigation into alleged malpractices at the
Ministry.
Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Minority Leader, however said the
Minority leader’s explanations were “unpersuasive.”
He quoted some constitutional provisions and said the
Minister was not dead, had not resigned from his position,
nor had his appointment been revoked and therefore the
position was not vacant and urged the Executive arm of
government to appoint in the interim, a substantive Minister
to answer the question and any future questions connected to
the Ministry.
The Minority Leader said the House was keenly following the
progress of the qualification of the Black Stars to the 2010
World Cup Tournament and some members would very soon be
posing questions to the Ministry and there was therefore an
urgent need for a substantive Minister to be appointed in
readiness for the questions.
Mr Asiamah who backed his leader, said as a Ranking Member
of the Committee with oversight responsibility over the
Ministry he was worried that the Executive was not taking
the work of Parliament seriously.
He said work at the Ministry was being stalled because of
the absence of some key persons at the Ministry.
Mr Asiamah questioned: “should I conclude that the Sports
Ministry is dead.”
The Speaker, however, brought the arguments to a close and
ruled that as soon as possible another date should be fixed
for the question and the Executive should be contacted to
quickly get a Minister, as stipulated by the Constitutional
Provisions of Article 81 to come before the House to respond
to the question and others.
GNA
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