Executive Director for Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has called on President Akufo-Addo to cut back on the number of ministers in his government.

According to him, government’s effort to assess the impact of mitigation measures in the country will not mean much if the number of appointees are not reduced. He indicated that government’s introduction of the free water and free electricity for a certain category of people in the country during the height of the pandemic was a good idea, however, he noted that to a large extent, those measures were “put in place as a way of cushioning the electoral fortunes of government rather than an act of goodwill”.

Mr Barimah highlighted that considering the current hardships in the country, the same people who were supported then are “now being squeezed to their wits”. This, he explained, makes one wonder “if they were poor then, how have they recovered from the effects of the pandemic?”.

“If you look at fuel and where things are now and the fares people have to pay to commute from one place to the other, you wonder if there is any such mitigation measure. A true mitigation measure will be President Akufo-Addo cutting down his ministers from the current 100 or so to 50. This country can be run with just about fifty ministers. Why is he not doing that? To the extent we still have Adwoa Safo maintaining the ministerial position after almost a year of being away.”
Suleimana Barimah

The Executive Director of MFWA emphasized that for instance, the retention of Dome-Kwabenya legistor, Adwoa Safo in office despite her long absence reveals the “quality of governance” Ghanaians are getting from President Akufo-Addo. He reckoned that this cannot happen in any part of the world, as it pertains to Ghana.

“I don’t think the President can justify anywhere that keeping this person as a minister for close to a year is an act of good leadership. If indeed, this government wants to really introduce any mitigation measures, it’s about cutting back on the appointees, number of ministers [and] staffers which are really eating a lot into our resources.”
Suleimana Barimah

Addressing illegal mining in the country

Commenting on the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s call on chiefs and MMDAs to deal with illegal mining to protect waterbodies against pollution, Mr Braimah opined that the fight against galamsey requires the efforts of everyone. He further revealed that government will equally have the primary role and responsibility of enforcing law and order.

Mr Braimah noted that fighting illegal mining will be possible since government also has the mandate and capacity to be able to deploy the security services as and when they need to be.

“But if you listen to people who are involved in mining, they will tell you that once the community members are involved and the community leaders are aware of it, it becomes a difficult thing to fight, because you cannot keep the police and military in the various communities and towns across the country. Remember in Ghana, almost every part of the country has some natural resource endowment that makes mining viable.”
Suleimana Barimah

Mr Braimah expressed that it’s important that community leaders are educated to understand the implications of illegal mining. He indicated that although they stand a chance of making some money from it, the long-term effect can be really devastating for the people and community going forward.

“So, I think it’s a welcomed call. Of course, government has to do its part in terms of not just the enforcement of the rules around mining but also [tackling] the whole thing about unemployment. Because sometimes, it’s quite a complex situation when people are trying to find food and young people are trying to make ends meet and they feel we can go into mining and make some money and at the same time we are not allowed to do it.”
Suleimana Barimah

The MFWA commended government’s effort in introducing the community mining team, where people will be allowed to mine, but in a regulated manner so that the environmental destruction can be minimized.