Don't appoint only NDC members to your government - Mahama told

International diplomatic expert Farouk Al Wahab has urged President John Dramani Mahama to tap into the wide range of Ghanaian talent when appointing members of his government.

Speaking on Top FM’s Final Point programme, Al Wahab encouraged the president to consider an all-inclusive government and not limit himself to appointing only members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to ensure efficiency in his administration.

“I am telling President Mahama and Ghanaians that he cannot limit himself to only party activists if he wants to run a successful government. Whereas he has indicated that he wants to appoint no more than 60 ministers, 60 ministers does not mean 60 activists of the NDC. It should be 60 ministers representing the collective Ghanaian talent,” he stated.

He urged the president to look beyond the borders of the country in appointing his government officials and tap into Ghana’s diaspora community as well. He cited examples of several developed countries that utilised their diaspora communities to achieve national goals and encouraged the president to emulate this approach.

“I am expecting one thing: that he will appoint strong ministers, not only from his party but also from the diaspora community. The diaspora community knows that Korea used its citizens who were outside Korea and had gone to study in Germany to build the nation. In the 90s, every Chinese outside China was a refugee, but these are the people who got an education outside and returned to build their nation. The Turkish were slaves until 1998 in either Switzerland or Germany; they brought technology back to Turkey. Brazilians were refugees in America, and the Japanese have been refugees before. All these countries, especially emerging markets, developed with the help of their diaspora communities,” he said.

President Mahama, who assumed office on January 7, 2025, is in the process of making appointments for his government.

The president has already issued some key decisions, including naming nominees for the ministerial appointments at the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy as well as the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice.

He has also announced a reduction in the number of ministries from the 30 under the previous Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to 23.

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