An Idea for President Mahama In 2014

Some years back, my colleagues and I discussed and actually tabled the idea below for effective project execution in a series of articles. There is an urgent Need for an Administrator/Assessor-General of all government projects. The person(s) could conduct Risk Analysis on all Government Projects.

The presidency should not become the strategic hub for policy planning from a financial and technical point of view. Political accountability resides in the executive, and that is enough. We concede that for most strategic projects the requisite expertise may be spread across multiple ministries, departments and agencies. The Cabinet Office can be strengthened and given powers that allow it to coordinate expertise across the civil service. We have centres of expertise that could be asked to help government create a kind of ‘administrator general’ role in the cabinet to vet all proposed projects. It goes without saying that such a move can only succeed if it follows a strengthening of the Cabinet Office to ensure coordination across the technical, financial and political accountability functions of the executive.

-And there are only three persons I see in the current government that can perform such a task- Martin Amidu, Dr. Kunbuor and Dr. Tony Aidoo. BUT should they be asked, they must be supported with the right kind of resources, MENTAL (thinkers) and cash and crucially the power to sanction renegades.

Happy New Year.

Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President, IMANI Ghana.