General News of Thursday, 23 April 2020

Source: dailymailgh.com

Scrap useless ministries to save money to revive economy – A Plus to Akufo-Addo

A Plus A Plus

Anti-graft campaigner, Kwame A Plus, has called on the Akufo-Addo-led government to cut down the size of his ministers to save the public purse.

Ghana has over 100 ministers – the largest ever under the Fourth Republic.

In a recent Facebook post, the maverick musician wondered why some ministries are still in existence when the country is struggling to service its loans as well as develop.

“Instead of going on a borrowing spree to fill the $12 billion deficit financing, we can raise money by cutting down frivolous expenditure like the new voter's register which will cost over 200 million dollars, reduce the number of ministers and their allocated staffers and also desist from irresponsible procurement of vehicles (V8s) and other non-essential expenditure like ministerial travels and cut down the president’s entourage during foreign trips.

“We cannot roam the world begging for aid and spend 64 million Ghana cedis gallivanting around the world in 9 months,” the musician-turned-politician said.

He added: “This is the time to be prudent. Collapse unproductive ministries and agencies like Regional Reorientation or whatever it is called, Ministry for Monitoring and Evaluating – they don’t monitor and evaluate huutey, Senior Minister’s Office is of no use, Zongo Development Ministry has not developed any Zongo, it is just a trick to win Zongo votes.

“How can we have a Ministry for Sanitation and have a Ministry for Environment? Isn’t it the same environment we want to sanitize? If we insist on having a sanitation ministry it’s mandated must be to sanitize the mindset of public officials, not the environment because public sector reforms commission or agency or whatever is a total waste of taxpayer’s money!!!

“How can we have a Business Development Ministry and have a Ministry for Trade and Industry and have a Special Initiatives Ministry and have a One District One Factory Secretariat? How can we have a Ministry of Transport and have a Ministry for Railways and have a ministry for Aviation and have the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. One day we will have a ministry for Okada and a ministry for taxi and a ministry for uber!!!

“Ghana just took 1 billion dollars in aid from the IMF. What is the use of a Ghana beyond aid secretariat when you continue to receive aid left right center?

“These ministries and agencies spend more on salaries and V8s than their mandate. If we scrap them we will save a lot which will help bring our economy back to life.”

Read A Plus' full post below

Instead of going on a borrowing spree to fill the $12 billion deficit financing, we can raise money by cutting down frivolous expenditure like the new voters register which will cost over 200 million dollars, reduce the number of ministers and their allocated staffers and also desist from irresponsible procurement of vehicles (V8s) and other non-essential expenditure like ministerial travels and cut down the president's entourage during foreign trips. We cannot roam the world begging for aid and spend 64 million Ghana cedis gallivanting around the world in 9 months.

This is the time to be prudent. Collapse unproductive ministries and agencies like Regional Reorientation or whatever it is called, Ministry for Monitoring and Evaluating - they don't monitor and evaluate huutey, Senior Minister's Office is of no use, Zongo Development Ministry has not developed any Zongo, it is just a trick to win Zongo votes.

How can we have a Ministry for Sanitation and have a Ministry for Environment? Isn't it the same environment we want to sanitize? If we insist on having a sanitation ministry it's mandate must be to sanitize the mindset of public officials not the environment because public sector reforms commission or agency or whatever is a total waste of taxpayer's money!!!

How can we have a Business Development Ministry and have a Ministry for Trade and Industry and have a Special Initiatives Ministry and have a One District One Factory Secretariat? How can we have a Ministry of Transport and have a Ministry for Railways and have a ministry for Aviation and have the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. One day we will have a ministry for Okada and a ministry for taxi and a ministry for uber!!!

Ghana just took 1 billion dollars in aid from the IMF. What is the use of a Ghana beyond aid secretariat when you continue to receive aid left right center?

These ministries and agencies spend more on salaries and V8s than their mandate. If we scrap them we will save a lot which will help bring our economy back to life.