Minister of State-designate for Public Sector Reforms, Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, has hit back at private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu for calling her experience into question following her nomination by President John Dramani Mahama.
Appearing before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Monday, February 24, 2025, the minister-designate affirmed her readiness to deliver on the mandate, adding that experience is not the sole determinant of suitability to occupy public office.
“My responsibility at the ministry is to collaborate and provide leadership so that the structures at the ministry will work. The president has interacted with me; he knows my capabilities, and I don’t think he has made a mistake by appointing me as the public sector reforms minister. I want to assure Ghanaians and lawyer Martin Kpebu that if it were about experience, they would have asked professors to be the president of this country because they have a lot of experience—they have learned a lot—or the minister for health should have been a professor and not any other person,” she said.
Speaking in a recent Joy FM interview, Martin Kpebu criticized Madam Akanvariba for lacking the necessary experience to lead the ministry.
“Straight answer: by her credentials, she is not, and I can’t say otherwise. By her credentials, she is not,” he stated.
According to the lawyer, the minister-designate, who has a health background, lacks the educational background and experience in public sector reform.
“It is too glaring that, by paper qualifications, she is not the right candidate, and when it comes to practice, she doesn’t carry it either,” he said.
He thus called on President Mahama to justify his nomination of Lydia Lamisi.
“I believe we should ask for an interview, and the president should respectfully and specifically give us insights into what went into that decision,” Mr. Kpebu said.
Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba is a health practitioner and Member of Parliament (MP) for Tempane in the Upper East Region.
GA
Also watch Ketu North MP speak on vetting committee chaos and appointment revocations: