{"id":103022,"date":"2025-11-12T17:56:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103022"},"modified":"2025-11-12T17:56:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:56:49","slug":"speaker-directs-defence-and-interior-committee-to-expedite-appointment-of-substantive-defence-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=103022","title":{"rendered":"Speaker directs Defence and Interior Committee to expedite appointment of substantive Defence Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 39 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has instructed the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior to accelerate the process of selecting and officially appointing a substantive Defence Minister.<\/p>\n

According to Speaker Bagbin, while the acting Defence Minister, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, is capable, the pressures on the office necessitate a permanent appointment.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI will direct our committee to follow up on the process and emphasize what others have said, to expedite the appointment of a substantive minister. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not because the current acting minister is not capable, but we know the pressures on him, and we need someone who can provide full reports and address some of the issues you\u2019ve raised,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

He said this on the floor of Parliament on Wednesday when Members of Parliamen made statements on the tragic stampede incident that occurred during the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise at the El-Wak Sports Stadium.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Speaker also highlighted concerns about the recruitment and enlistment processes in the Ghana Armed Forces, saying, \u201cWhat prevents this country from having a continuous recruitment or enlistment process? <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe don\u2019t have to wait and do it once every year or sometimes two years, causing a backlog that leads to rushed processes and tragic outcomes. With your support, the Committee on Defence and Interior should follow up on this matter. Later, you can schedule a date to present a full brief from the committee and the minister, as civil society is actively debating this issue, and many proposals have been put forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports indicate that the recruitment exercise, which drew thousands of applicants across the country, turned chaotic at some centres, leading to stampedes and injuries. In Kumasi and Accra, several young people reportedly collapsed while attempting to enter overcrowded venues.<\/p>\n

The GAF clarified that the death toll from the tragic incident at El-Wak Sports Stadium this Wednesday, November 12, remains at six, urging the public to disregard any false or unverified reports circulating about the event.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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\"SpeakerSpeaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has instructed the Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior to accelerate the process of selecting and officially appointing a substantive Defence Minister.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12332,2051,12397,1951,1883,10,9,1026],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alban-babgin","category-defence-minister","category-el-wak-stampede","category-hp-news-1","category-national","category-politics","category-popular","category-speaker-of-parliament"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}