Bloated government: Push for review of the constitution — Prof Agyeman-Duah tells Minority

A former United Nations Senior Governance Advisor, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah has urged the Minority in Parliament to call for the amendment of the constitution to put a cap on the number of ministers a government can appoint.

He said until that happens, any government can appoint as many ministers as possible since the constitution is silent on the number of persons a president can appoint as ministers.

His comment comes after the opposition NDC wrote to its MPs in Parliament not to approve the appointment of the minister nominees.

A letter signed by NDC General Secretary Fifi Kwetey said the hardship in the country as a result of the mismanagement of the economy demanded that the Akufo-Addo administration downsizes its ministers to cut costs.

But Prof. Agyeman-Duah who was speaking on Dwaboase on Power FM Tuesday morning indicated that he shares the same position with the minority.

However, he said he had not seen the seriousness of the MPs on the amendment of the constitution to put a limit on the appointment of ministers.

“I agree with the minority for the size of the government to be reduced to cut costs. I have been saying this for a long time but if they don’t push for the constitution to be amended, the president may choose to increase his appointees,” he noted.

To him, the Parliamentarians have not shown commitment to leading a review of the constitution to control the size of the government.