Approving Hawa is suicidal – Samson Lardy Anyenini to Parliament

Samson Lardy Anyenini, a private legal practitioner and host of Newsfile, a current affairs programme on Joy News has asked the Appointments Committee of Parliament not to endorse the nomination of Hawa Koomson as the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture because he believes, she put up a poor show during her vetting last Thursday, February 18, 2021.

Speaking on Good Evening Ghana on Metro TV, the 2019 GJA Journalist of the Year described answers given by the former Minister of Special Development Initiative as “incoherent and not accurate” with respect to basic questions about the Fishing Ministry.

According to him, the nominee also misconducted herself in the previous administration, a situation; he believes does not warrant her reappointment.

“The vetting idea is basically you interviewing people to give them jobs, because you have interest in some business – that’s basically what it means. If the President is sending a nominee there, it means the President is saying I would have trusted this person if the business was mine. I have some difficulty, not about her lack of eloquence, but having come to know and seen her conduct. I have difficulty in why such a person should be put up to be a minister of state again.

“The apology doesn’t remove the misconduct and so what message is being sent out there. And again she was being asked basic questions about fishing and her answers were incoherent and actually not accurate. I mean you would have expected her to prepare so well for it but her preparation was inadequate. For example, about Adwoa Safo too – I listened to some part of her vetting and I wasn’t impressed. They asked her questions and she said when you approve me and I get to the Ministry, I’ll find out and learn about it. That’s wrong; you are coming for a job interview – that’s not what you do” he said.

The Awutu Senya East lawmaker got social media talking after some believed that her grammar was not the best. Others also thought that she was not on top of the issues.

However at the back of the several public backlashes, Security Analyst Adam Bonaa also believes the way and manner Hawa Koomson answered the questions asked her during the vetting should not to be used as a yardstick to measure her ability or inability to deliver on the job.

Mr Bonaa in a statement sighted by The New Publisher said, “Ghana had a Medical Professor as Minister in-Charge of Environment, Science and Technology in the last administration, but it was the period in which the environment got destroyed through Galamsey. Parliament should not focus on eloquence, rather, substance in approving the former Minister of Special Development Initiative.”

He added, “Rosewood illegal harvesting and improper disposal of refuse in the country. Ability to define a subject may not be a yardstick for performance. First class degree may not be a panacea for an excellent performance on the job.

“We must as a nation start glorifying performance on the job, not articulation and fluency in a certain language and definitions of subjects. Hon Hawa Koomson was one of the best performing Ministers of State in the previous government and I urge the appointments committee of Parliament to approve her. My name is Adam Bonaa and I am a Citizen of Ghana and not a Spectator.”