The Defence Minister designate, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, says the government
will take a decision on the two Guantanamo Bay detainees after reviewing
the intelligence available.
Responding to a question when he appeared before the Appointments
Committee of Parliament last Friday, Mr Nitiwul said the previous
government took the decision to accommodate the two detainees based on
the intelligence at the time.
“In the same way, this government is going to analyse all the
intelligence related to this particular case and take a decision,” he
told the committee.
He was responding to a question by the Member for
Tamale North, Alhaji
Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, whether he (Nitiwul) would advise the
President to send back the two detainees to America.
Alhaji Suhuyini referred to a statement by the President, Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo, during the electioneering, that the presence of the
two detainees in the country had opened Ghana to external attacks.
Allowance to security forces
Based on a pledge made in the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP’s) manifesto to
adjust the allowance given to members of the security forces who went
on international peacekeeping duties, the nominee was asked how much the
government was going to increase the allowance.
In his response to the question, posed by the MP for Bodi, Mr Sampson
Ahi, Mr Nitiwul gave an assurance that as the Mahama administration had
not made good its promise to raise the current amount of $31 to $35, the
NPP government was prepared to do so.
“What we said (and I actually said it) is that we are committed to
increasing it to $35 and I can say for a fact that there is enough gap
to meet that commitment; we are prepared to meet that commitment and we
shall meet that commitment,” he stated.
Cyber security, employment, third military hospital
The Minister of Defence designate also answered questions relating to
the government’s preparedness to deal with issues concerning cyber
security, employment into the security services and the construction of a
third military hospital in the northern part of the country.
The questions were posed by the MPs for Ablekuma West, Mrs Ursula Owusu
Ekuful; Manhyia North, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, and Lawra, Mr Anthony
Karbo.
Mr Nitiwul advocated more investment to ensure that Ghana did not become a victim of cyber attacks.
On the question of fair and transparent recruitment into the security
agencies, he said the law was clear on ensuring a regional balance in
the security services.
He said there was, however, the need to ensure ethnic balance and
pledged to look into the matter when given the nod, adding that he would
also correct all anomalies to ensure everyone had a fair chance of
recruitment into the security services.
He also gave an assurance that the government would fulfil its pledge to
build a third military hospital in Tamale to serve the Northern Command
of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and also serve as an emergency centre
for civilians living in the Upper West, Upper East and Northern regions.
On the matter of the murder of the Bimbilla Naa, he said the government
would uphold the principles of justice to uphold the law as it continued
the search for the perpetrators.
Evacuation from The Gambia
The MP for North Tongu, Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa, asked if Mr Nitiwul would
advise the President to consider the evacuation of Ghanaians from The
Gambia, as there was no information on such an intended action if the
need arose.
In response, the nominee said intelligence had informed the government
that about 50,000 Ghanaians, largely made up of fisher folk, were in The
Gambia, saying that the government had plans to evacuate them if things
got to a head.
Background
When given the nod as the Minister of Defence, the MP for Bimbilla will
become the youngest minister, at 39, to hold that very sensitive and
important portfolio.
Born on November 4, 1977, the former Deputy Minority Leader of
Parliament, who has been an MP since 2009, started off as a teacher,
having obtained his teacher’s Certificate ‘A’ from the Akrokerri
Training College in 1995.
Mr Nitiwul continued his teacher education at the University College of
Education, Winneba, where he first obtained a diploma in science
education in 2001 and then a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Science degree
in 2002.
Teaching experience
His first experience as a teacher was at the Local Authority JHS at
Chamba in the Northern Region from 1995 to 1996, from where he moved to
the St Joseph’s JHS at Gungumpa, his alma mater, where he was the
headmaster but had the rank of assistant headmaster from 1996 to 1998
because he was then only a Certificate ‘A’ teacher.
Mr Nitiwul went on to teach at the E. P. Senior High School at Saboba in
the Northern Region from 2001 to 2002, after which he put aside the
chalk and went to Parliament.
As a very young member of the legislature from 2002 to 2005, he had the
opportunity to attend the International Academy for Leadership in
Germany where he pursued a course in Conflict Prevention and Conflict
Management in 2003 and 2005.
That was his first encounter with security matters until he was
nominated as a member of the Presidential Transition Team in charge of
Defence last year.
Mr Nitiwul has a wealth of experience from his time spent in the
legislature and has served on various committees of the House, including
the Appointments Committee, in addition to rising to the position of
Deputy Minority Leader from 2013 to 2017.
Vetting
It was, therefore, not surprising that when the nominee appeared before
the Appointments Committee at approximately 9:15 p.m. last Friday, the
preamble by the Chairman, Mr Joseph Osei-Wusu, was that the rules should
be relaxed to “make it as smooth and swift as possible” for Mr Nitiwul
as their tradition was when they vetted leaders in Parliament.
That, however, did not prevent the committee from posing very pertinent
questions bordering on the portfolio for which Mr Nitiwul had been
nominated, although his vetting took only about 50 minutes.
No comments:
Post a Comment