“The President is in a hurry to transform lives, to reduce poverty and above all, to make a difference… To drive the change that will bring about prosperity will require doing things differently. A business as usual approach will not get us there. It will require a business unusual strategy to reset the government machinery to work differently to achieve life – changing results…”
Dr Anthony Akoto Osei(MP)
Business Unusual: Daily Graphic: Tuesday,
PYTHAGORAS (569 -470BC), the mathematician is known for the Pythagoras theorem for calculating the hypotenuse of a right – angled triangle, which is a basic construct of modern geometry. He is also known as Father of Numerology – even though Numerology, the study and belief in the divine, mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events Numerology pre – dates Pythagoras, having been in existence in the Chaldees, Mesopotamia, Babylon, Veldian system. They guide one on when to travel, what to do at particular times
March 16, 2017
THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN NUMEROLOGY will tell you that the figure 110 has the attributes and energies of numbers ‘I’ and ‘O’, Number ‘I’ signifies assertive, independence and uniqueness, motivation, striving forward, with new beginnings, positively and achieving success.
Thus the President, Nana Akufo Addo by appointing 110 Ministers and deputies has evoked the nation’s best in debate. Some non – governmental organisations have said the appointments “do not make sense”
Critics are comparing the composition of Ministers in the various post – independence governments: 10 ministers but total of 44 Deputy Ministers in Kwame Nkrumah’s regime with a population of some five million we as students call all the Ministers by vote Deputy Ministers. Franklin Cudjoe of IMANI believes the deputy ministers named by the President for some ministries were unnecessary. He thinks: “This country can do with about 30 ministers and that is set.
I’ve been to Australia and U.K. and their institutions and ministries are being collapsed into desks for agency heads” He questions: “To see that we have a Minister of State for Agriculture. What will they be doing?”. Other CSOs have criticized the number. Kofi Adams, the NDC National Organiser questions the “essence of creating new ministries” especially in the midst of calls for a lean government. He criticised NPP for ‘trial and error’ governance. Kwesi Pratt, the Editor of the ‘Insight’ newspaper criticises those not criticizing Nana Addo’s number as mere ‘praise – singing’ and if Nana Addo justifies the figure of 110, then Dr Kwame Nkrumah should have had 6000 Ministers
Former CEO of National Health Insurance, Sylvestor Mensah calls the appointments of the Ministers ‘unethical’. But Fritz Baffour ex MP for Ablekuma South sees nothing wrong with Nana’s magical number: “The thing is that we have a constitution and our politics is ruled by our constitution and if the President decides to appoint many ministers that is up to him …” the NDC thinks with the criticisms of Nana’s government, they stand a better chance of winning the 2020 elections.
The Minister for information, Mustapha Hamid defends the President, arguing: ..the weak nature of the economy requires a competent army … the President has been guided by the competencies and experiences of the people and legal requirements for making such appointments”.
Article 76 of the 1992 Constitution says: “There shall be a Cabinet which shall consist of the President, the Vice President and not less than ten and not more than nineteen Ministers of State “Article 78 says: “ the majority of ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament, Article 78 (2)” . The President shall appoint such numbers of Ministers of State as may be necessary for the efficient running of the State” and Article 79(1) says: “The President may … appoint one or more Deputy Ministers to assist the Minister in the performance of his functions:. So, the President has not flouted the constitution in anyway.
Don’t you agree that the instructive or operative word is “efficient?” Will a lean government achieve the desired results? Unlike the United Kingdom, the United States of America has 15 heads of the executive departments (cabinet Ministers who are appointed by the President and confirmed by majority votes (51 votes) of the Senate. Once appointed, such heads cannot be a member of congress or hold any other elected office.
Sri Lanka with a population of 20.5million has 52 cabinet Ministers, whereas Ghana’s 1992 Constitution makes room for 19 Cabinet Ministers. Vammatu (an archipelago – a group of Islands, 1000km off Australia), with a population of 276,300 has a Cabinet of 13 Ministers. Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu, San Marino, Liechtenstein, St Kitts and Nevis, Maldives, Malta, Grenada – smallest nations of the world, do not look at their sizes and choose their Cabinets: they rather look at what sizes will have a ministry responsible for Inner City and Zongo Affairs(like the Ministry of Bantu Afairs of South Africa in the past);a Ministry for Procurement; a ministry for Monitoring and Evaluation, what has the NPP promised to do? Develop the whole country and elevate the Zongos; eradicate corruption; give equal access to free education.
How can these be achieved? You will need a staff of dedicated and experienced professionals “. For the Ministry Of Monitoring and Evaluation “… the Minister and the Secretariat will facilitate regular performance reporting to the President, Cabinet as well as Parliament and conduct periodic consultations; checking in to ensure that key intervention will achieve results that are transformative in terms of changing lives and livelihoods (to be) efficiently and effectively implemented”.
How can a minister do whatever he likes with all these “checks and balances?” Woyome – like judgement debt? Will a ministry have the opportunity to inflate project costs? One can criticize the government but the criticism should be found on solid base. For the beginning Nana Addo is in a “hurry”. He needs the magic number of 110 to do a lot of things let us see how it works; there could be reshuffle when things run smoothly. But some people prefer large efficient, honest government to a lean, corrupt inefficient one.