A former Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu, has criticised the lack of sufficient time afforded to the public to submit memoranda during the ministerial vetting process.<\/p>\n
The immediate First Deputy Speaker of Parliament speaking to the press on Thursday, expressed concerns over what he described as \u201cindecent haste\u201d in the process, which he believes undermined both public participation and the thoroughness of the committee\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Addressing the issue, he noted that allowing the public time to submit concerns is a critical component of vetting procedures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason we call it a public hearing is that we want to afford the opportunity for the public to participate in it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a formality; it\u2019s about giving the public a voice to bring their issues to the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Bekwai legislator revealed that he was unsure whether adequate advertising was done to notify the public. \u201cI am not even sure whether they advertised and allowed sufficient time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke with the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader about the arrangements they made, but I did not see any advert.\u201d<\/p>\n
He suggested that a minimum of one to two weeks should have been given for the public to submit memoranda. \u201cFrankly, when you are starting a term like this, I would have thought that, at minimum, there should have been a one-week or two-week advert,\u201d he emphasised.<\/p>\n
The former Appointments Committee Chairman further criticised the timing of the vetting process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this particular instance, the time between the election, the swearing-in, and the start of vetting\u2014just four or five days after\u2014was novel,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has never happened before. I thought the haste with which they proceeded may have affected the preparation of the members of the committee.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joseph Osei Owusu described the situation as a missed opportunity for thorough public engagement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a way to receive nominations and allow for public input, it should be done properly,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe committees themselves had not been fully constituted. I thought it was a needless and indecent haste to push through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deputy speaker\u2019s comments add to growing concerns about transparency and inclusivity in parliamentary proceedings.<\/p>\n
He reiterated his belief that the abridged timeline not only limited public participation but also impacted the committee\u2019s ability to probe effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cA public hearing should reflect its name\u2014it\u2019s an invitation for everyone to contribute, and the time should have been given for that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Chairman of the Appointments Committee, Joseph Osei Owusu, has criticised the lack of sufficient time afforded to the public to submit memoranda during the ministerial vetting process. The immediate First Deputy Speaker of Parliament speaking to the press on Thursday, expressed concerns over what he described as \u201cindecent haste\u201d in the process, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[3142,3141],"class_list":["post-9765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news","tag-appointment-committee","tag-joseph-osei-owusu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9767,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9765\/revisions\/9767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fishfmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}