During his vetting before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on February 25, 2025, Deputy Minister-Designate for Energy and Green Transition, Richard Gyan-Mensah, faced a challenging moment when he was unable to specify the energy policy from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 manifesto.
Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin inquired about the party’s energy sector policies. In response, Gyan-Mensah began referencing the President, but Afenyo-Markin interrupted, urging a direct answer. After a brief pause, Gyan-Mensah admitted, “I’ve not praised myself with the whole policy.”
Committee Chairman Kwaku Ricketts-Hagan attempted to justify the nominee’s lapse, stating, “Our manifesto is not a driving licence, so we don’t carry it with us.” He added that asking nominees to produce the party’s manifesto is akin to asking them to produce Ghana’s Constitution.
Despite the nominee’s oversight, the NDC’s 2024 manifesto outlines several energy sector policies, including restructuring regulatory agencies for enhanced efficiency, developing an Energy Sector Strategic Framework, enforcing the cash waterfall mechanism to ensure prompt revenue distribution by the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), ring-fencing Energy Sector Levies Act (ESLA) funds for their intended purposes, and improving professionalism across the sector.
Deputy minister-designate embarrassed as he fails to name NDC’s manifesto policy
This incident has ignited discussions about the preparedness of ministerial nominees and their familiarity with party policies. Some critics argue that such lapses reflect a broader issue of appointees not being adequately equipped for their prospective roles. As the vetting process continues, there is a heightened focus on ensuring that nominees are well-versed in the policies they are expected to implement.
Source: https://x.com/PulseGhana/status/1894454304137736448?t=iuD-y8bU2mmqbf5zujT-ZA&s=19