Deputy Roads and Highways Minister-nominee weeps before Appointments Committee

• The deputy minister-designate weeps before the Appointments Committee

• The nominee became emotional as he recounted how violence disrupted his secondary level education at Damongo

Stephen Pambin Jalula, the deputy minister-designate for Roads and Highways, could not hold back his tears when he appeared before the Appointments Committee on Thursday, June 10, 2021.

When he appeared before the Committee, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful asked the nominee why he left a note in his curriculum vitae (CV) saying that he could not sit for his final year exams during his secondary education.

“Your educational background, Damongo Secondary School, the note you have added says that during your final exams in 1992, an internal conflict in Kpandai ignited between Gonjas and Komkombas so you had to abandon your final exams and leave Damongo to Sarbogba, why?

“You were in school, why, where the schools closed?” she asked and urged the nominee to “explain this a bit further for the Committee.”

Stephen Pambin Jalula became emotional as he recounted how violence disrupted his secondary level education at Damongo in 1992 to the Committee.

He told the committee that a group of angry pupils decided to take revenge on students of Damongo Secondary School due to a conflict between the Gonjas and the Komkombas.

That night, he said, had a dire effect on his development as a young man.

“That is one of the unfortunate incidents that have characterized my development as a young man. During that particular conflict, as we know already, lives were lost, properties destroyed and people were displaced internally. So, this particular night, those students whose families were affected by the conflict decided to take revenge on us, so I had to…”

He could no longer speak and had to remove his spectacles, take out a handkerchief and wipe away his tears.

The Chairman of the Committee, Joseph Osei-Owusu, then requested that the nominee be given some time to compose himself and entreated members of the Committee to proceed with other questions.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful apologised to Stephen Pambin Jalula for making him relive that sensitive experience.