Senior Research Fellow at the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Dr. Smart Sarpong, has admonished the president-elect, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to cut down his number of ministers appointed in his second term to ensure real protection of the national purse.
According to Dr. Sarpong, there are some ministries whose services are not relevant and the nation can do without those quarters for now.
He cited the Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development as well as the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, among others, as some of the ministries that must be dissolved to reduce cost and waste.
Dr. Smart said the huge number of ministers makes it difficult to know who is under-performing as some of those ministries are even unknown to the average citizen. He said these huge numbers give room for redundancy at the expense of the taxpayer.
He advised the President to make a conscious effort to reduce “the cluster of ministers to at most 70 or 80.
“Some of us believe that the overwhelming number of ministers doesn’t work. It only creates an avenue for corruption, hence the president must return to the drawing board and re-strategize his number of ministers going forward into his second-term administration”
President Akufo-Addo in 2017 after been sworn in as the fifth President of the Fourth Republic, appointed a record number of 125 ministers, a move most Ghanaians from all the political divide spoke against and considered as ‘outrageous’.
The 125 ministers included the Regional Ministers of the six newly created regions.
This issue was very dominant in discussions during President Akufo `Addo’s first and second years in office. However, the leader of the main opposition party, John Mahama dragged it further saying, if elected as President, he will drastically reduce the number of ministers to only “relevant ones”.
He stated that, “You (President Akufo Addo) can’t be asking Ghanaians to tighten their belt while you have 125 Ministers and have increased the number of ministries by over 50 new ministries.”
Mr. Mahama indicated that the “over-sized” number of ministers is not economical given the economic state of the country. He also said this was rather an avenue the President wants to use to embezzle national funds with his family and party members.
On the other hand, the Spokesperson of the President on Governance and Legal Affairs, Herbert Krapa, on the President’s behalf gave reasons for the increase in the number of ministries and subsequently ministers of state and their deputies. He noted that it is an investment in the well-being of the nation and as such, measures had been put in place to ensure ministers worked efficiently for the people of Ghana.
He said the appointment of new ministers did not burden the finances of the country as some people said.
“The expenditure on Ministers has no significant effect on the Ghanaian economy. If the former President has the figures to challenge what I am saying he should bring it up for debate.” Mr. Krapa stated.
Given the re-election of President Akufo Addo, it is unknown if there are going to be new ministerial appointments or a reduction. As of now, the number of Ministers of States still stands at 125.
