Pressure group, OccupyGhana, has called on President Akufo-Addo to reduce the number of government appointees in his cabinet.

According to the group, “times are hard, things are hard” and every Ghanaian is feeling the pinch and pain. To survive, it revealed that citizens are forced to cut back on some essential things in life. As such, the Government, which is largely to blame for the “economic mess”, must also cut back.

“There is no time better than now, to reduce the size of the Government.”
OccupyGhana

OccupyGhana explained that in early 2017, when the size of the government was revealed, it was not convinced that that was what Ghana required. The group stated that in its press statement dated 17^th March 2017, it criticised the President, stating that while a government bureaucracy must be big enough to achieve the aims of the government, “it must be lean enough not to waste the resources of the state”.

“We also pointed out that the considerable amount of money in salaries, allowances and benefits… (In addition to enjoying a range of ex-gratia benefits when they leave office) does not sound to us like a diligent attempt to protect the public purse.”
OccupyGhana

The pressure group noted that in one of several responses to its criticism and ones similar to that made by the group, the President at the time said to some new ministers: “As you know there are some who say my government is too big and there are too many of you. I am a firm believer in the adage, the proof of the pudding is in the eating”.

Disappointment in size of government

OccupyGhana stated that the President, on a differenct occasion, called the size of his government a “necessary investment” and assured Ghanaians that “it is not going to be a holiday” for the ministers. To this, OccupyGhana underscored that “time has tested both the investment and the pudding and they have not aged well” and have been found wanting.

“The combined return, two years to the end of the President’s second term, is this debilitating economic crisis. Unless the President’s new and unacceptable argument would be that we would be in a much worse situation but for his still large coterie of ministers, it is time to get ‘lean and mean’. If as citizens, we are compelled to cut down on our private expenses, then it is time for the government to do the same to protect the public purse.”
OccupyGhana

OccupyGhana expressed that these are not normal times for Ghanaians and “business as usual won’t cut” it. It highlighted that the excuses for having and paying a large batch of ministers and other appointees to produce the results citizens see now, “to the extent that they have ever been justified”, which the group denies, “wear perilously thin” in these times.

“This is therefore a demand for an immediate and drastic reduction in size, not limited to ministers alone, but all of the President’s non-ministerial appointees. If for nothing at all, the symbolism in the government also taking a hit, just like the rest of us, is very strong.”
OccupyGhana