President John Dramani Mahama seems to be in a fix over whether or not to drop one of his appointees, who doubles as Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast South, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan. The MP was nominated for the position of Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. He subsequently went through the parliamentary vetting process and was approved by Parliament but some unseen hands seem to be pulling the strings against his appointment. On the scheduled day of the swearing in of Deputy Ministers who had been approved by Parliament on Friday, May 3, 2013, Mr. Rickett-Hagan, who happens to be the former Chief Executive Officer of Togbe Afede’s Ghana’s version of the World Trade Centre in Accra, was said to have been one of the first to have arrived at the Flagstaff House with his family all dressed up for the occasion. But that was not meant to be. This, according to Daily Guide sources, was because moments to the swearing in ceremony, he was unshered out of the hall where the event was taking place to the surprise of not only himself, but also members of his family and his colleague Deputy Ministers. He was, therefore, not allowed to take part in the process. Apparently, some unseen but powerful hands were pulling strings to block the gentleman from getting the nod. Mounting Pressure almost two weeks after the ceremony, the distraught MP’s fate still remains unknown with the chiefs and people of his constituency and hometown threatening a demonstration. Although government sources are tight-lipped about the issue, Daily Guide sources have it that the beleaguered MP told some of his colleagues he had a stomach upset and that was the reason why he could not partake in the swearing-in since he had to visit the washroom at regular intervals. Since then, he has not been called and no explanation has been given to the public. Interestingly, the name of the Agbogbomefia of Asogli state, Togbe Afede XIV, has popped up as one of those who influenced the President’s decision to drop Rickett-Hagan as a Deputy Minister of Finance. This, sources said, was because he (Togbe Afede) was not happy with Rickett-Hagan’s decision to resign from his position as CEO of one of his companies (WTC) to pursue a political ambition and allegedly thought of ‘teaching him a lesson by using his influence in government to impress on President Mahama to drop the Cape Coast he was a General Manager of Strategic African Securities (SAS) Limited owned by Togbe Afede before his secondment to SAS. Many, including MPs, see Togbe Afede’s growing influence on the President as worrying, while members of the Appointments Committee of the House are said to be unhappy with the stance taken by the President since he had been vetted. They see it as a slap in the face of Parliament as an institution, especially when the President has also not been bold enough to withdraw Ricketts-Hagan’s appointment to the position. Meanwhile, the Cape Coast branch of the NDC is said to be unhappy about the development and are asking t he President to swear in their kinsman or face their wrath. It is, however, not clear whether the President would stick to his decision or bow to the mounting pressure from the chiefs and people of Cape Coast in the Central Region by swearing in the beleaguered MP, whose fate now hangs in the balance.