Politics of Wednesday, 18 May 2005

Source: Times

DCE?s Won?t Be Vetted?Ministry

Persons nominated as district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives will not go through vetting by Parliament as it is being suggested by a section of the public.

The nominees will rather go through the normal laid down procedures of either being endorsed or rejected by their respective assemblies.

The deputy minister for local government and rural development, Kofi Poku-Adusei, said this in an interview with the paper yesterday in response to suggestions by some members of the public that the new chief executives be vetted.

Mr Poku-Adusei said nominees normally go through some vetting conducted by the Government to ensure that those selected are competent and do not have any question marks against them.

?What pertains at Parliament is quite different from the approval of the chief executive by the assemblies, he said.

The President, John Agyekum Kufuor, recently nominated 30 persons as chief executives for assemblies in the Volta, Central and the Greater Accra regions. As mandated by the constitution, every four years the President appoints chief executives to man all the districts in the country.