Akufo-Addo appoints caretaker ministers

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed caretaker ministers to hold the fort pending the substantive appointments.

This follows the expiration of his first term and the commencement of his second four-year term on January 7, 2021.

The action is in accordance with the Presidential Transition Act, 2012, (Act 845), to avoid gaps in the running of state affairs.

Reliable sources from the Presidency said Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare had been asked to act as the Chief of Staff, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta to act as Finance Minister, Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen as Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Dominic Nitiwul, as Minister of Defence, and Mr Albert Kan Dapaah, as Minister of National Security.

The rest are Mr Ambrose Dery, acting as Minister of the Interior, Hajia Alima Mahama, acting as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, and Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah as Minister of Information.

Mr Eugene Arhin is also to act as Director of Communications at the Presidency.

However, the caretaker ministers had been directed not to take decisions involving policy issues.

They have also been notified to be guided by a memo issued by the then Chief of Staff and Chairperson of the Presidential Transition Team, Madam Osei-Opare, in December 2020, which asked ministers not to sign any new loan agreements, engage financial commitments and recruitment of permanent management personnel during the transition period.

The Ghana News Agency learnt that whilst the President is composing a new government, some ministries would be scraped and others merged to reduce the size of government.

Sources say the ministers and deputy ministers in the new government are expected to be reduced from 110 to about 70.

Some party gurus of the ruling New Patriotic Party were seen around the corridors of the Jubilee House after the President's swearing-in ceremony trying to catch his eyes for appointment into his new administration.