The new Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, received the highest votes cast by Members of Parliament on Friday, March 24, 2023, to determine whether or not to approve the appointees of the president.
In total, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, told the House that there were 275 MPs eligible to vote, 3 absentees, and 272 valid votes cast.
At the end of the secret vote, Bryan Acheampong received 167 Yes votes, 98 No votes, and 1 rejected vote.
According to the records on the day, there were 136 MPs apiece on both the Majority and the Minority sides of the House, however, the votes that were cast for all the nominees, were in outright majority.
In the specific case of Bryan Acheampong, who is also the MP for Abetifi, with a total valid vote of 167, it meant that he clearly had an extra 31 votes from the Minority side.
This is the case because, what was certain going into the vote was that all the MPs from the Majority side (New Patriotic Party; also the party in power) were going to give a Yes vote to the nominees.
The Minority MPs had also sent a very clear message about their position on the fact that they would not approve the appointees of the president.
They had given their reasons that the government was overcrowded and that there was the need for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to downsize his government instead so that the public purse is not further under pressure.
Arguments from the debates on the approval of the nominees, plus some two other appointees for the Supreme Court of Ghana, had all indicated that the Minority were going to reject the nominees.
However, in the evening of Friday, March 24, when the House held a secret vote on the matter, all the results came out in favour of the nominees, as all of them were confirmed.
Some of the MPs from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have since openly expressed their disappointments in the way things turned out, with some of them describing the outcome as a betrayal.
This is how the MPs voted on the day for the ministers:
Total eligible 275
Absentees = 3
Total valid votes = 272
KT Hammond, Minister for Trade and Industry
Yes = 154
No = 116
Rejected = 1
Abstention = 1
Bryan Acheampong, Minister for Food and Agriculture
Yes = 167
No = 98
Rejected = 1
Abstention = 3
Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs
Yes = 147
No = 122
Abstention = 3
Mohammed Amin, Minister of State at the Presidency
Yes = 152
No = 117
Rejected = 1
Abstentions = 2
Osei Bonsu Amoah, Minister of Local Government and Decentralization
Yes = 149
No = 120
Abstentions = 2
Stephen Amoah, deputy minister of Trade and Industry
Yes = 146
No = 123
Abstentions = 3