Ace Ankomah, a member of OccupyGhana
PRESSURE GROUP OccupyGhana has urged President Akufo-Addo to take a second look at the ‘large’ size of his ministers in order to save the national purse from being put under undue pressure.
This comes in the wake of criticisms from the public over the president’s tall list of substantive and deputy ministers numbering about 110 – the largest in the country’s history.
The pressure group wants the president to consider how best he can consolidate some of the portfolios to prevent ‘unnecessary overlapping of functions.’
A statement from Flagstaff House, the seat of government, to the Speaker of Parliament on Wednesday mentioned the Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya and current deputy majority leader, Sarah Adwoa Safo, as the Minister of State at the Office of the President in-charge of Procurement; the MP for Abetifi, Bryan Acheampong, Minister of State at the Office of the President; Dr. Nurah Gyeile, Minister of State at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and a former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, Minister of State at the Ministry of Education in-charge of Tertiary Education, among others.
The relatively ‘large’ number of the president’s ministerial appointees has generated controversy, with the minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) in parliament reportedly accusing President Akufo-Addo of deliberately trying to ‘weaken’ parliament.
“What is more worrying is that President Akufo-Addo has appointed the experienced MPs who were heading the various committees into the executive,” the minority chief whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, was quoted as telling journalists at a press briefing in Accra.
“President Nana Akufo-Addo wants to weaken parliament and also stifle its oversight responsibilities that is why he has appointed all these MPs who have huge parliamentary experiences and were heading the various standing and select committees of parliament,” Mr. Muntaka noted.
However, Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, addressing a news conference in Accra on Tuesday, dismissed the minority’s claim, saying the tall list of ministers in the NPP administration is part of Mr. Akufo-Addo’s agenda to bring Ghana on the path of economic progress.
The president himself later in an interview on Ghana Television (GTV), indicated that more hands were needed to help him lead Ghana onto the path of prosperity for all.
But OccupyGhana a press statement signed by the Media Relations Officer of OccupyGhana, Nana Sarpong Agyeman-Badu, indicated, “It is our firm view that a government bureaucracy must be big enough to achieve the aims of governing administration, yet lean enough to not waste resources of state.”
In his State of the Nation Address, the president lamented the dire state of the nation’s economy and this was corroborated by the Minister of Finance in his budget presentation recently.
“Can Ghana, with its present economic situation, afford 110 ministers? Can we not do more with less? OccupyGhana quizzed.
BY Melvin Tarlue