Senior Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil says some ministers-designate would have to be rejected by the Appointments Committee not because of their poor use of the English language but because they lacked essential knowledge about the portfolio they were nominated to occupy.

According to him, even though English language is a measure of intelligence, it is not the only psychometric test that had to be observed to determine if a person was competent for a job.

He stated that a clear lack of understanding of the portfolio under interrogation should signal to the vetting committee that the person is not fit and thus should be rejected.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile, Saturday, Kofi Bentil said “What has to be picked up is that apart from the fact that the person has a problem with a language; because if you can’t express yourself in English, [and that is our official language], if you cannot make sense, if you cannot understand or speak it well, it signals something.

“What we should look for is whether there are other signals showing other things. If you suggest that you’re not on top of the job or you don’t know the brief very well, is there any other thing that you are showing us to make us believe that maybe you’re not fit for the job?

“And in certain cases it was clear that it’s not just the language that the people did not have, it is the fact that they did not understand the substance very well.”

English language proficiency for Ministers became topical following the vetting of Fisheries Minister-designate, Mavis Hawa Koomson's vetting on February 18, 2020.

Social media was abuzz with what they described as her shambolic performance before the Appointments Committee.

According to some netizens, Hawa Koomson’s English Language usage had not risen to the occasion during the vetting, and her knowledge about the sector she was nominated to head was abysmally inadequate.

They have been calling on the Appointments Committee to reject her nomination.

Vetting is an interview for a job to assess your competence. Hawa Koomson should be frank with herself, if a fresh graduate appears at her ministry and performs exactly how she's doing now, would she hire the young graduate? We all know the answer. I wish her well though. 😊

— Rex (@RexKwasiDanquah) February 18, 2021

Based on the vetting Hon. Hawa Koomson doesn't have any idea about the sector yet she will be cleared as the Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture.

— Kwabena Wan🔥 (@KwabenaWann) February 18, 2021

Did we swap Afoley Quaye for Hawa Koomson? Are we really serious? We are joking with livelihood and food security? A clear case of a square peg in a round whole. Ah, whew!

— Johnnie Hughes, TBG (@hughes_onair) February 18, 2021

In an opinion piece reacting to the Minister-designee’s performance at vetting, award-winning investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure also said, “If a university graduate goes for a job interview at the ministries and speaks the kind of English Hawa Koomson spoke at the interview yesterday, that candidate will very likely lose the job.

He added that “Someone who does not know the difference between “destiny” and “destination” cannot be trusted with complex contracts and laws and other deals on our behalf.”

To this end, the Vice President of IMANI says Parliament should send Ministers-designate who perform abysmally back for the President to justify why he wants them in office.

He added that “Too many times we have put too many people in high office who do nothing and some of them actually work against our progress. That is the purpose of this vetting so when it comes out this clearly, I think we must take steps to do something to rectify that situation.”