The Deputy Minister-Designate for the Office of the Attorney General and Justice, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah was the first to appear before the Appointments Committee on Tuesday, 15 June 2021.
The nominee holds MSc in Defence and International Politics from the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Accra. He completed his Professional Law Course at the Ghana School of Law in 2002 after obtaining a degree in Accounting and Law from the University of Ghana, Legon in 2000 and a Diploma in Business Management from ICS, Glasgow, Scotland in 2000.
The nominee said Ghana’s Legal Aid Scheme tasked with providing legal assistance to the poor and indigent, as well as other persons in the prosecution and defence of their rights does not function as well as it should. To effectively execute its mandate, he suggested, it must be given the resources needed to implement its mandate.
He pledged to assist the substantive Minister to uphold the tenets of rule of law through their daily work to ensure that laws are clear, predictable and accessible and that cases are publicly adjudicated in courts independent of the executive arm of government.
In his opinion, time is not ripe for abolishing the death penalty because of the rife callous crimes.
He was indifferent to the separation of the Attorney General’s Office from the Ministry of Justice and said he did not have a position yet on concerns for the two to be distinct since he has not taken part in any such conversation but encouraged such conversations to go on.
Next to follow was the Deputy Minister-Designate for Trade and Industry, Herbert Krapa, a lawyer, lecturer, and Government Spokesperson on Governance and Legal Affairs.
A prolific writer with a host of publications on Law and Governance to his credit, Krapa holds a Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of Ghana and a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied international finance, debt restructuring, international commercial arbitration, and corporate crime.
He is a member of the Programme for African Leadership, London, a founding member of Noble Law Group, Ghana and a founding fellow of a major policy think tank in Ghana.
The nominee pledged to assist the Minister to attract private sector investment with measures providing a safe and conducive environment for businesses to thrive.
According to him, there are 232 factories under the One District One Factory (1D1F) project with over 76 of them in progress while over 1000 jobs are being created and underscored the fact that there is a lot of investment into the projects to prevent any form of setback.
He gave the assurance that though Africa has in the past walked economic paths with ECOWAS which never materialised, AfCFTA, the quota-free market agreement aimed to boost intra African trade among 54 signatory countries will materialise because it has learnt the lessons of failed initiatives.
Herbert Krapa advised Ghanaians to concentrate on providing quality cocoa to meet international standards and the exportation of semi-finished goods instead of worrying about China producing cocoa.
On the matter of judgement and the President’s stance in the fight against illegal mining that aggrieved parties should seek redress at the court of law, he believed state institutions should be sensitized and civil servants should be trained on how to prevent losses to the state.
The Deputy Minister-designate for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar a lawyer, entrepreneur and the Deputy Communications Director at the Office of the President who was called to the Bar after she graduated from the Ghana School of Law in 2020 took her turn to be vetted.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and English Language from the University of Ghana, Legon and went on to obtain an LLB Degree at Mountcrest University College. From there she gained admission to the Ghana School of Law and graduated in the year 2020.
She assured the Committee to put in her best to provide the necessary resources to support Ghana Broadcasting Company (GBC) to raise the reputation of the state broadcaster if approved.
The nominee denied the assertion that a culture of silence is prevalent in the country and claims that journalists are prevented from working but rather called for validation on allegations of abuse against journalists.
She said the indecent use of words will be addressed in the new Broadcasting Bill and pledged to support her substantial Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
The last Deputy Minister-designate to face the Appointments Committee was music producer Mark Okraku Mantey who is heading to the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
Mr Okraku Mantey was instrumental in getting the Creative Arts Bill passed and is currently the Programmes Director at Hitz FM a subsidiary of the Multimedia Group and has been working as the President of the Creative Arts Council since 2017.
The nominee, who is also the Interim President of the Creative Arts Agency, explained that the government met an ineffective system in the creative arts sector when it assumed office in 2017 for which reason the administration is building new systems from scratch.
The nominee said he has been advocating the continuation of highlife and has served as a judge for music reality shows where many potentials were realised and will, therefore, use his rich experience to ensure highlife continues to live.
He said Copy Ghana and GHAMRO have been instituted to protect the intellectual property rights and works of artists hence will ensure these institutions work as expected emphasizing that social media will be used for the benefit of all especially in schools for students to appreciate the culture of Ghana.
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