Deputy Minority Leader has called on the President John Atta Mills to appoint a substantive Security Minister to over see the affairs of the security and Intelligence agencies. Hon Ambrose Derry, MP for Lawra Nandom said the absence of a minister is not only violating the Security and Intelligence Agencies Act of 1996, but stifling the work of parliament. Act 526 stipulates that the President must appoint a Security Minister or have a substantive minister oversee the activities of the intelligence and security agencies. The National Security Ministry was scrapped by the Mills administration, as part of austerity measures to cut down on public spending. At the moment, Hon Derry said the House has not been told who in-charge of the agencies, a phenomenon he observed was inhibiting Parliament’s oversight responsibility over the executive. He told Citi News on Monday nobody can be held accountable for the duties of the of the security and intelligence agencies. Recent activities by the Bureau of National Investigations and the National Security probe into allegations of corruption by the resigned Sports Minister, Muntaka Mubarak needed further explanation, but the House is unaware which minister is answerable, he lamented. Asked if the Directors of the various agencies could not be hauled before Parliament, the lawyer insisted, that responsibility was only to be shouldered by a substantive minister. Hon Derry called on the President to immediately rectify what he says was a lacuna. If the President has assigned the oversight responsibility to a minister, the MP said it has to be made public to facilitate the work of parliament. Story by Nathan Gadugah/Myjoyonline.com