Mr Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, a Deputy Minister for Information and Media Relations, on Wednesday, commended President Mahama for initiating a three-day orientation programme for ministers and deputy ministers.

He said apart from equipping them with sufficient knowledge to effectively perform their duties, the orientation had also empowered them to significantly improve on their performance by moving them away from old ways of doing government business.

“I think the initiative taken by President Mahama has been instrumental as it will go a long way to place us on the right pedals to perform our duties creditably well in our areas of jurisdiction,” the deputy minister said.

Mr Kwakye-Ofosu, who made the commendation during the daily briefings at the Flagstaff House, Kanda, said the orientation had also whipped up their enthusiasm to enable them to reach their ultimate goal.

President John Dramani Mahama on Monday inaugurated a three-day orientation course for the deputy ministers, aimed at equipping them with the requisite skills to be able to undertake their duties effectively and efficiently to help in the execution of the better Ghana agenda.

The orientation brought together all the deputy ministers from all sectors of the economy, including deputy regional ministers.

It was resourced by seasoned politicians and governance think-tanks, who took them through various topics on politics and governance, to boost their knowledge on their activities to achieve the vision of President Mahama.

The deputy minister said the participants following the orientation were more prepared to carry out government business better than before.

On the performance of the National Under 20 team in the on-going world tournament in Turkey, the deputy minister said the government was gratified that they had reached the semi-finals as their first two losses demoralized Ghanaians.

“The Black Satellites started on a difficult note by losing their first two matches to France and Spain, but their subsequent performance against Portugal and Chile was a replica of how resilient Ghanaians are anywhere they find themselves,” he said.