Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Assurances, Dominic Nitiwul rebuked the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, for failing to appear before the committee to account for assurances made on the floor of Parliament.
According to the Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Assurances, it will not tolerate attempts by ministers to evade accountability.
He stressed that Parliament must be respected as the representative body of the people.
He disclosed that Ablakwa was scheduled to appear but had disregarded repeated communications from Parliament and its clerks.
Speaking in a video shared on X, Dominic Nitiwul stated, “And then the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was scheduled to come yesterday, did not appear, did not respond to the clerks, did not respond to Parliament. Messages were sent by me, messages were sent by my ranking, messages were sent by the deputy ranking; he did not bother to respond.
“We would expect that their team appears here tomorrow. As I said, you can’t be running away from accountability. Once you agree to serve the people of Ghana as a minister, you can’t, and we will not allow you to run away from accountability”, he stressed.
He added, “You don’t want to be held responsible by this committee; don’t make a promise. If you make a promise, you must appear before this committee to tell the people of Ghana where you have reached with your promise. That is the only way this country can grow. That is the only way democracy can grow”.
Nitiwul warned that the conduct of ministers could undermine the president’s relationship with Parliament and the people if accountability is overlooked.
“Let them give respect to the people of Ghana; otherwise, they have no place, they have no reason to be where they are. If you are lucky enough to be a minister out of 33 million Ghanaians, you must show respect to the people who represent the people of Ghana, and Parliament”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Interior Minister, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, at the Parliament’s Public Assurance Committee, has announced that about 1,300 applicants who participated in the recent security services recruitment exercise tested positive for HIV.
According to the Interior Minister, the revelation informed the government’s decision not to send medical results directly to unsuccessful applicants.
He disclosed that there is a need for proper counselling and adherence to international health guidelines.
Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak explained that applicants who fail the medical examination were provided with contact details to enable them to voluntarily seek further information.
Speaking before Parliament’s Public Assurance Committee, the Interior Minister stated, “I remember the recent recruitment we had. I think about 1,300 also were on HIV. Can you imagine sending somebody a result telling the person that you have HIV? That’s not the procedure. The person has to go through some orientation”.
Also, he asserted that several of the medical conditions identified during the screening are treatable.
“Some of the things that we realised are treatable. People need to know and then also get treatment so that subsequent recruitment they could join,” he stated.
He further encouraged unsuccessful applicants to request their medical results, “It may be something minor, it may be something major. Whichever it is, if you get to know, it will be of great interest to you”.
The Interior Minister also disclosed that the government did not contact the HIV applicants directly but had instead provided a channel for them to voluntarily request their results.
“We provided contact for people to call who were interested in knowing why they failed… We are obliged to give them the results, but we can’t send them to you on the phone,” he explained.
Watch the video below:
Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Assurances Dominic Nitiwul criticizes the Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa for failing to appear before the committee to account for assurances made on the floor of Parliament.
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The committee says it will not tolerate… pic.twitter.com/gT8l5UIKvs
