President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo named 12 more appointees to head ministerial portfolio’s yesterday, bringing the total number of ministers to serve in his government so far announced to 25. It is not known whether the Head of State will make further cabinet appointments besides the naming of their deputies.
Civil society organisations and political watchers are delighted at the promptness with which the President is putting his team together. It is a sign of the urgency that the new occupant of Government House attaches to the need to solve the myriads of problems at hand.
From yesterday’s declaration, four more ministries have been created in the President’s desire to attend to the problems of state. We now have Ministers for of Monitoring and Evaluation, Regional Re-Organisation, Railways Development and Sanitation and Water Resources as new additions to cabinet meetings.
We do not need the services of a sage to appreciate the rationale behind the creation of these new ministries. We would like to believe that raising Monitoring and Evaluation, which used to be a department at the Presidency, to a fully-fledged ministry, is informed by the need to keep a tap on the use of the public purse.
It is a sad commentary to recall that the era of the immediate past administration was characterised by misapplication of state resources in a gargantuan scheme, labeled by Mr. Justice Jones Dotse, a Supreme Court Judge, as a “create, loot and share” venture. The rationale behind the creation of the ministry, we would like to believe, is to ensure value for money. We wish the new ministry and its appointed minister – Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei – one-time Minister of State in charge of Finance, the best of everything.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that the collapse of the railway network in the country has put too much pressure on the road networks. Heavy goods, which should normally move by rail, now go by road, putting it under serious strain.
In every sense of the word, it is very difficult for any nation to develop without rail transport, which is why restructuring and developing the railway sector is of paramount importance. It is our hope that the creation of the new ministry would aid the return of rail transport sooner than later. If it would take the creation of an entirely new ministry to bring it into fruition, so be it.
The Chronicle is very much aware of the importance the new President attaches to his promise to create a few more regions in the country. We believe though, that the exercise could be tackled under the Ministry of Local Government, for instance.
The new Ministry for Sanitation and Water Resources is another creation that is not sitting well with us. We are aware of the need to clean up this society, which is gradually being swamped by filth. But, surely, that could be done without necessarily committing state resources towards the creation of a new ministry, which, in turn will put more pressure on the state purse.
Having made these observations, The Chronicle would like to wish the new ministers well with their vetting processes and the running of their ministries as well.
We are a bit uncomfortable with the regional and ethnic imbalance clearly portrayed in the new appointments though. For instance, there are as many as seven ministers from the Eastern Region on the list, while the Central, Volta, Upper West and Upper East have one representative each.
We would like to believe that the President would reflect on the need for regional and ethnic balance in naming other ministers and their deputies.
This country is craving for more integration. It is not as if we are at each other’s throats though. As a matter of fact, Ghana could qualify as one of the most cohesive nations on earth. We could do well by reflecting this unity in diversity in our state appointments. When one region is credited with as many as seven cabinet ministers, while others struggle for a sole representation, the balance we all crave for could be skewed.
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