The Appointments Committee of Parliament will today start the vetting of nominees for appointment to the various ministries and regions. So far, President John Dramani Mahama has made 37 ministerial nominations, with some of them expected to work at the presidency. However, of all the nominations, it is only the first batch of 12 ministerial nominees that has been referred to the Appointments Committee by Speaker of Parliament Edward K. Doe Adjaho for consideration and subsequent approval. The first batch of six nominees, who are expected to appear before the committee, are Seth Terkper, Minister-designate of Finance and Economic Planning; Hanna Tetteh, Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Alhaji Collins Dauda, Water Resources, Works and Housing; Alhaji A. B. Inusah Fuseini, Lands and Natural Resources; Alhaji Sulemana, Roads and Highways; and Clement Kofi Humado, Food and Agriculture. Article 78 (1) of the Constitution provides that nominees by the president for ministerial appointment have to be approved by Parliament before they can act or hold themselves out as ministers or deputy ministers of state. Even though the 1992 Constitution does not specify the manner in which the House should approve the nominees, the Standing Order of Parliament provides for the Appointments Committee, composed of the First Deputy Speaker as chairman and not more than 25 other members. Therefore, First Deputy Speaker Ebo Barton-Odro, who is also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for Cape Coast North, will make his debut as chairman when the Appointments Committee begins the vetting of the ministerial nominees today. Of the other 25 committee members, 14 belong to the majority side while 11 are members of the minority. However, the minority has given an indication that its members on the committee will boycott the sitting to vet the ministerial nominees because of the petition which 2012 New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer Nana Akufo-Addo and two others have filed at the Supreme Court. The petition challenges the Electoral Commission's (EC) declaration of President Mahama as the winner of the 2012 presidential election. As of the time of publication, Deputy Minority Leader Dominic Nitiwul had reported that the NPP is standing by its decision not to "participate in deliberations and decisions on matters which will evaporate upon the cessation of President Mahama's administration after the Supreme Court has come up with its verdict in favour of the NPP." Commenting on the decision of the minority, former Majority Leader Cletus Avoka said that it would be unfortunate if the minority takes this path because throughout the history of vetting processes in the Fourth Republic, it has always been the members of the minority side who provide the bite and go the extra mile to exact information from nominees. Through such diligence, he said, it was detected that Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, who was once nominated for ministerial appointment by former President J.J. Rawlings, had not registered as a voter at the time he was nominated. In a similar vein, during the presidency of John Agyekum Kuffuor, the Appointments Committee was able to detect that two ministerial nominees, Vicky Bright and Lawrence Akwasi Agyeman Prempeh, had dual nationalities.