Politics of Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Source: 3news.com

Some ministries created by Akufo-Addo added nothing to Ghana’s development - Abdulai

President Nana Akufo-Addo President Nana Akufo-Addo

A Senior Governance Advisor of the African Parliamentary Network, Professor David Abdulai, has said some ministries created by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo contributed nothing to the development trajectory that Ghana wanted and therefore must be scrapped.

A list of ministries and possible Ministers making rounds indicate that some Ministries have been reduced to agencies and or departments.

The President appointed more than 110 ministers excluding the appointees of the six new regions, which were later created under the regional reorganization ministry led by Dan Kwaku Botwe.

The President’s action sparked public outcry with many calling for a reduction in the number of ministers, which ultimately resulted in some of them having two deputies, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Agriculture. Other Ministries like the Ministry of Energy has three deputies.

Some analysts had also questioned the relevance of additional ministries including the Ministry of Evaluation and the Ministry of Procurement.

Speaking to Alfred Ocansey on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show, Prof. Abdulai said, the President must take a critical look at the ministries again and scrap some of them.

“2020 is hindsight. I do not think there is justification for the ministries; even South Africa with much more bigger economy doesn’t have such ministers. Also once you have that size of ministers the purse that comes to that office have an impact on the economy”. He stated.

The government in 2017 had justified the additions of the new ministries and concluded Ghanaians should judge them by their performance at the end of their term.

“Have you seen any evaluation made public? So I think that at the end of the day the Ghanaian public with the advancement in social media is becoming smarter and the bloated ministry is not the way to go this time round”. Professor Abdulai queried.

The Professor who will not put a figure to the required ministers said one would have to do a thorough analysis of the numbers.