Opinions of Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Columnist: FPG

Ministerial reshuffle: much ado about nothing.

President

"Leadership means understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure."
- Admiral Arleigh A. Burke

The office of President John Dramani Mahama has over the last couple of weeks issued ministerial reshuffles and appointments of new deputy ministers to help prosecute his governance agenda.

The presidency of John Mahama continues to be characterized by mal-administration, massive high level corruption, poor and unsanitary environment, nepotism, high cost of living as well as erratic supply of utility services and constant fuel price increases.
Since the assumption of the highest office of the land as the president, President Mahama's leadership has been very abysmal. All his numerous appointments have yielded nothing to salvage the socio-economic despondency his administration has brought to the good people of Ghana.

The Forum for Progressive Ghana (PFG) like many well meaning Ghanaians are not impressed about the list of people penciled to take up ministerial and deputy ministerial positions. This is just another drain on the scarce resources to give jobs to family and friends without any recourse to the country's progress.
This is a clear case of much ado about nothing.

The massive corruption, looting of state resources, government's shoddy contractual agreements with some dubious private individuals like the SUBAs, GYEEDAs, AZONTABAs, SADAs and the much wastage of the state resources can only become worsened.

The President continues to exhibit traits of ineffective leadership. President Mahama is quick to take credit for any minimal achievement but blames all and sundry to hide his inefficiencies. This is a very common flaw of poor leaders.
In many challenges that confront us as a nation, our President's decisions and actions have been nothing but abysmal. Ghanaians are suffering under the poor leadership of President Mahama, as his ministers continue to flout his lame orders.

If something goes wrong we expect the President to show leadership qualities and take responsibility rather than blaming others; if something goes right, the bad leader takes the credit. The President must avoid making promises he knows he cannot keep:

This happens so often that trying to list all of his promises will only aggravate the pains in the heart of Ghanaians. This reshuffle gives Ghanaians no better hope of improved lives. They are here to amass wealth while the vast majority of Ghanaians wallow in abject poverty and deprivation.
Most of the names mentioned lack the required knowledge, skills and vision to help distill the challenges facing the ministry of which they have been assigned.
Those being moved from one ministry they achieved nothing of significance are just going to warm the ministerial chair to help the president in his continues fleecing of our state resources with his cronies.
This reshuffle is therefore an exercise in futility and the President must reconsider reshuffling himself and resign to give way for competent leadership to complete his term of office.

It is very clear that this reshuffle without the President reshuffling himself is much ado about nothing!!

For and on behalf of FPG
Signed:
• Askanda Adam Badaru , President (026 660 8175)
• Joseph Nana Kofi Akomeah, Gen. Sec. (024 602 8182)
• Clement Tino Adu, P.R.O (024 923 1158)