Some four (4) Ministers of State, seven (7) deputies and several Chief executive Officers (CEOs) of government agencies face a sack in an impending reshuffle barring any last-minute changes.
The affected persons, according to incontrovertible sources from the seat of government, available to this portal, are mostly those who contested in the just-ended parliamentary primaries but lost in their respective bids.
A meeting before the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary Primaries was convened and the decision arrived.
“It is unfortunate but they will be relieved of their duties in the coming days once the primaries are over and a winner is decided”, our source who pleaded strict anonymity revealed.
Our sources indicate that the reshuffle is aimed at strengthening the base of the party ahead of the 2024 polls as the affected persons are said to be unpopular among the party’s grassroots and could sabotage its electoral gains.
Though details of when exactly President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will announce the changes remain unknown, it is expected that it will be done in the coming weeks
It would be recalled that the Minister of Public Enterprises and Member of Parliament (MP) for Effia in the Western Region, Joseph Cudjoe; Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources and MP for Tano North in the Ahafo Region, Dr Freda Prempeh, and the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection and MP for Walewale in the North East Region, Hajia Lariba Zuweira Abudu; all lost during the party’s January 27, 2024 primaries.
Seth Kwame Acheampong, the Eastern Regional Minister also lost the New Juaben North seat in the primaries.
The seven deputy ministers who were not re-elected are the two Deputy Ministers of Health, Tina Naa Ayeley Mensah, MP for Weija-Gbawe in the Greater Accra Region, and Mahama Asei Seini, MP for Daboya/Mankarigu in the Savannah Region.
The others are a Deputy Minister of Education and MP for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, Gifty Twum-Ampofo; Deputy Minister of Communications and Digitalisation and MP for Juaben in the Ashanti, Ama Pomaa Boateng; a Deputy Minister of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and MP for Offinso North in the Ashanti Region, Collins Ntim; Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and MP for Lower Hemang Denkyira in the Central Region, Bright Wireko-Brobbey, and Deputy Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development and MP for Trobu, Moses Anim.
Ms Mensah was defeated by Jerry Ahmed Shaibu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Coastal Development Authority, while Mr Seini lost to a former Deputy Minister of Savannah Region, Samuel Tika.
Mr Wireko-Brobbey was defeated by the CEO of Export and Import Bank, Ghana, Lawrence Agyinsam; while Ms Boateng and Mr Ntim lost their re-election bid to Frank Owusu Achiaw and Fred Kyei Asamoah respectively.
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Other big losers
In Dome-Kwabenya, the CEO of the Ghana Free Zones Authority, Michael Oquaye Jr, defeated Ms Adwoa Safo on the third attempt, while the MP for Subin in the Ashanti Region, Eugene Boakye Antwi, who was said to be part of the NPP MPs that pushed for the removal of Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, lost to Kofi Obiri Yeboah.
Others are Isaac Kwame Asiamah (Atwima Mponua) who was defeated by Seth Osei-Akoto and Sheila Bartels (Ablekuma North) who also lost her bid to the Deputy Ghana’s Ambassador to China, Nana Akua Owusu Afriyie. John Benam (Zabzugu) lost to Fawaz Aliu, a Deputy Chief of Staff at the Presidency and John Osei Frimpong (Aberim) could not maintain his candidature as he also lost to Ghana’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Charles Owiredu.
The rest are Yves Hanson Nortey (Tema Central), Elvis Morris Donkor (Abura Asebu Kwamankese), Samuel Erickson Abakah (Shama), Kwadwo Asante (Suhum), Emmanuel Kwasi Gyamfi ( Odotobri), Emmanuel Adjei Anhwere (Atwima-Nwabiagya South), Akwasi Darko Boateng (Bosome Freho), George Kwabena Obeng Takyi (Manso Nkwanta), Dr Adomako Kissi (Anyaa Sowutuom) and Akwasi Owusu Afrifa-Mensah (Amansaman)
Meanwhile, some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives(MMDCEs) were also penciled for sack given their failure to perform in the recently held assembly elections, have since been fired and new nominees announced.