General News of Saturday, 18 March 2017

Source: kasapafmonline.com

Akufo-Addo government to have worst record in history – Adams

Kofi Adams Kofi Adams

At the pace, President Akufo-Addo is going with his administration, he might set record for the wrong reasons, the National Organizer of the opposition NDC, Kofi Adams has said.

Adams feels several decisions taken by the President could be politically costly, especially his ‘elephant government’ that has come under serious criticisms for the past few days.

“At least the immediate past President distinguished himself with infrastructure development, in the areas of education, health, Aviation, and the massive Circle Interchange project which has made him popular. I believe that this current President also wants to set a record, but for the wrong reasons, either through plagiarism or record appointment of Ministers. That is what the President wants to set his record and this is not good for our economy. It is bad, unacceptable and must be stopped.”

President Akufo-Addo on Wednesday nominated 50 deputies and 4 others to serve as Ministers of State at the presidency and ministries.

This brings his total number of ministers to 110, the highest in Ghana’s Fourth Republic.

In a reaction to the criticisms of his “elephant size government” President Akufo-Addo said, the unprecedented problems confronting Ghana demand a large government to face them.

“I don’t believe that my government in the Fourth Republic has big numbers in view of the swollen challenges,” President Akufo-Addo said in an interview with the Daily Graphic.

“These are the background and the circumstances that were facing my government and the people of Ghana, hence they need a new paradigm shift to solve the problems.

“We have a problem and what is the best way? It is better to have men and women capable of serving the nation’s interests and to work to grow the economy…If I succeed, you will soon find out the brouhaha is nothing compared to the success.”

Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme, the National Organizer of the largest opposition NDC said the so called bold initiatives of the President, with which he based his large Ministerial appointments on must not be left to plunder the public purse, insisting that the political appointments are added cost to the tax payer.

“The first bold initiative I was expecting from him[Akufo-Addo], was to see him reduce drastically the size of his government. The justification for his action has been that ‘if I succeed, you will soon find out the brouhaha is nothing compared to the success’ what if you fail? Adams questioned.