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President John Agyekum Kufuor yesterday nominated Hon. Felix Kwasi Owusu-Adjapong, MP for Akim Swedru and former Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, as Minister for Energy. |
The nomination, which was in accordance with Article 78 (1) of the 1992 Constitution, was contained in a communication from the President and submitted to Parliament by the Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs, Kwadwo Okyere Mpiani.
The nomination was referred to the Appointments Committee soon after it was read to the House in a brief interruption during yesterday’s heated debate over the purchase of aircraft for the Ghana Air Force.
In a related development, President Kufuor has elevated four Judges of the Appeal Court as Justices of the Supreme Court.
Acting in consultation with the Council of State and upon the advice of the Judicial Council, the President appointed Justices Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, Jones Dotse, Mrs. R.C. Owusu, and Anin Yeboah, as Justices of the Supreme Court.
Hon Owusu-Adjapong’s nomination has put to rest several months of media speculations about the whereabouts of the former Energy Minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, following his virtual disappearance from public functions for a long time.
The last time Mr. Adda was seen at a public function was during the December Congress of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) at the University of Ghana, Legon.
Even though he was technically the sector minister, the Navrongo Central MP was conspicuously missing from the recent National Petroleum Conference, held at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), thereby setting tongues wagging over his status.
Officialdom had maintained studied silence over Hon Adda’s removal with no reasons being assigned for his exit from government.
The media had a field day over the issue of his whereabouts, with all manner of speculations floating around.
Hon. Adda, it would be recalled, damned critics who called for his resignation as minister during last year’s energy crisis. Although he survived the heat at the time, nothing has been heard of him since the ‘September 31’ 2007 miracle.
Article 78 (1) of the Constitution states that “Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among Members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among Members of Parliament”.
No explanation has however been given by the Presidency for his removal.
Hon. Adda was first appointed as Minister of Employment and Manpower Development in 2005, before moving to the Energy Ministry in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Hon. Owusu-Adjapong is seen as the luckiest of the nearly one dozen ministers who resigned their positions to contest the ruling party’s presidential race.
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