Ghana does not need 40 ministers of state after 2020

The Public Interest, Research and Advocacy Network (PIRAN) wishes to commend Ghanaians for turning out massively to express their opinions (vote) in the last general elections to elect their next president and 275 members of parliament.

We also in particular thank Ghanaians for the pattern of voting, which tells of a maturing Ghanaian voter, who can rightly discern actual performance, policies and manifestoes of both the ruling party and that of opposition parties.

We would also respectfully urge Ghanaians to vote in 2024 for a party that runs or promises to run the governance machinery of Ghana with not more than 40 Ministers of State, including their Deputies.

This would go a long way to cut down on the soaring government expenditure on appointees to guarantee increased public expenditure on badly needed social infrastructure and jobs for the ordinary Ghanaian, when savings in public expenditure are properly diverted and invested.

We also urge Ghanaians irrespective of party affiliation, civic society organizations and the floating voters in particular to put mounting pressure on the president-elect, Nana Akuffo-Addo, to initiate moves after 7th January, 2021 to amend Article 78(1), which forces the President to appoint 50% of all his ministers from among Members of Parliament, as the practice is responsible for a weaker Ghana parliament unable to check Executive excesses. PIRAN, therefore, wishes to describe this practice as the ‘’Mother Serpent of Corruption and Vote Buying’’ in Ghana but NOT the Presidency.

PIRAN also strongly recommends for the change of the designation of Regional Ministers to Regional Chief Executives, to reflect their basic function of supervising District Chief Executives on behalf of the President, who is the National Chief Executive of Ghana.

Moreover, given the number of technocrats and directors at the Regional Coordinating Councils, we recommend Regional Chief Executives (now known as Regional Ministers) are not assigned deputies.

With all humility and utmost respect, we once again thank the Ghanaian voter for exhibiting maturity of choice and expression of opinion in this year’s General Elections, and further urge them to do the same in 2024 based on these aforementioned recommendations to the government.

We are therefore cautioning the ruling NPP government to implement these recommendations if she wants to maintain power in 2024, while at the same time strongly urging all opposition political parties to amend their manifestoes in line with our recommendations to increase their chances of capturing power in 2024 and beyond.

Find below our recommendations regarding the number of ministers and their designations recommendation for an adoption after 2020 and beyond:

1.Employment and Social Welfare

2.Food & Agriculture

3.Water, Sanitation and Environment

4.Health

5.Finance

6.Transportation – Roads, Highways and Aviation

7.Defense and National Security

8.Interior

9.Foreign Affairs and International Commerce

10.Industry, Science and Technology

11.Communications and Information

12.Justice and Attorney General

13.Housing

14.Lands and Natural Resources

15.Education

16.Energy and Petroleum

17.Tourism and Creative Arts

18.Culture and Chieftaincy

19.Local Government

We also recommend the replacement of the Youth and Sports Ministry into a Commission to be managed by professionals other than political appointees.