March 20, 2012

Parliament on Monday vetted two Presidential nominees, Mr Henry Ford Kamel, NDC Member of Parliament for Buem, Volta Regional Minister-designate and Mr Victor Emmanuel Smith, a Presidential Adviser, Eastern Regional Minister-designate.

Mr. Kamel assured the Appointments Committee to use “good, strong” social support systems in the Volta Region to ensure that Election 2012 would be held in a peaceful atmosphere in the Region.
He pledged to engage Members of Parliament and District Chief Executives, traditional authorities and the clergy in the Region to guarantee integrity of the electoral process in that Region.

Mr. Kamel said he would ensure that the Region’s economic potential was enhanced, prescribing the need to review the law on bushfires, which was having a significant toll on ecotourism potentials in the area.

However, he said addressing the issue should be a collective effort instead of depending on the responsibility of State institutions to curb the menace of bushfires, advocating the need to involve the traditional set up and the people to address the situation.

Mr. Victor Smith assured political parties that he would ensure objectivity in all security matters and would collaborate effectively with other institutions to ensure peaceful Election 2012 in the Region.

He pledged commitment to the development of the Region, its people and would ensure sustainable development for the people to feel the government’s “Better Ghana” agenda.

Mr. Smith said he would ensure that activities that degraded the environment in the Region were curtailed, arguing that the law on small scale mining should be upheld and operations of galamsey operators properly supervised and monitored.

He said when given the nod as Eastern Regional Minister, he would ensure that all bottlenecks and bureaucratic process that frustrated policy implementation would be reduced.

Source: peacefmonline.com