Member of parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that the decision by former President John Dramani Mahama to appoint not more than sixty ministers and deputies will save the country some GHC350 million.

According to him, the decision by Mr Mahama is a laudable idea and it will have a great impact on the country.

“John Mahama’s inspiring and patriotic pledge to appoint not more than 60 Ministers and Deputies, and to prevent all his appointees from receiving ex-gratia payments, will at current conditions of service potentially save the Ghanaian taxpayer an impressive GHS350million in four years.”
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Elsewhere, executive director of Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Professor H Kwasi Prempeh, reacting to the promise by former President John Dramani Mahama to appoint 60 ministers if he becomes President again, requested further clarification on the former President’s intentions.

He revealed that when politicians make such pronouncements, they should be asked to be precise with their terms.

“Does the 60 include Deputy Ministers? Regional Ministers? When these politicians talk, you’ve got to get them to be exact or precise with their terms. Otherwise, he will appoint 60 Ministers, and x number of Deputies and tell you he said, Ministers but [not] Deputies.”
Professor H Kwasi Prempeh

In his acceptance speech at the University of Development Studies on Monday, May 15, after winning the flagbearer race held on May 13, Mr Mahama, the newly elected flagbearer of the NDC noted that Ghana is still at the crossroads with crippling debt, and an inefficient and wasteful government.

In his view, it is a betrayal of the people, as a leader, to keep doing things the same way when the results leave them the poorer.

Similarly, during his campaign launch at the Cedi auditorium, University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) in Ho, Volta Region, in March 2023, Mr. Mahama initially disclosed his intention to limit his administration to a maximum of sixty ministers and deputies if he emerges victorious in the 2024 presidential elections.

NDC has better chances of winning

Meanwhile, former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor, has stated that the current national executives of the NDC are no match for their counterparts in the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He explained that the executives of the main opposition party have completely overshadowed their counterparts in the governing party.

Citing an example, the former NDC deputy general secretary explained that the National Chairman of the NPP, Mr Stephen Ntim is nowhere close to the person of Johnson Asiedu Nketia, National Chair of the NDC.

Speaking in relation to the parliamentary and presidential primaries of the NDC held on Saturday, May 13, Dr Otokunor stated that he is confident all the candidates who have been elected stand a better chance of winning than the current NPP lawmakers although the governing party is yet to elect its candidates.

“I think it is a very solid combination. Pick it from the national level, you would see clearly that if we are even doing a head-to-head comparison with NPP, they are completely dwarfed. From Flagbearer to National Chairman to General Secretary to the last person, who are you going to compare to in the NDC? They are completely dwarfed.”
Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor

Emphasizing his point, Mr Otukonor iterated that Stephen Ntim is “absolutely nowhere near General Mosquito; General Mosquito is a colossus”. To this end, he questioned which politician in Ghana can be compared to the national chairman of the NDC as he can’t find any.

“Pick our General Secretary and pick their General Secretary…Let’s look at the parliamentary candidates that we have elected, just look at the list.”
Dr Peter Boamah Otokunor