has said his government inherited “a big mess” from the John Mahama government, but noted that his administration is “systematically cleaning up” that mess.

At a ceremony to swear in six new ministers at the Jubilee House on Friday, 2 November, the president said: “There are many things for us to do in Ghana; we inherited a big mess, but systematically we are trying to clean it up; and by and large, we are succeeding”.

According to the president, all the economic indices he inherited from the previous administration were pointing in the wrong direction – a situation, he said, his administration has corrected.

“Already, the economic indicators that we inherited have all been turned around and they are now pointing in the right direction”, the president said.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say that there is no reason for us to continue to be a poor country.

“The Almighty God has given us everything, and if we put it together properly, we should be a wealthy and developed nation.

“This is the vision that is animating me”, the president told his new appointees who include Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Gender, Child and Social protection Cynthia Morrison; Minister of the Upper East Region, Ambassador Paulina Tangaba Abayage; and Mr Evans Opoku Bobie, Minister of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The others are Mr Martin Oti Gyarko, Deputy Minister of the Brong Ahafo Region and Mr Samuel Nuertey Ayertey, Deputy Minister of the Eastern Region.

They were all vetted by parliament’s Appointments Committee and passed by parliament.