It’s a ‘limited reshuffle’ but some ministers will lose their jobs – Cabinet member

It is now officially confirmed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will in few days reshuffle his cabinet ministers for the first time in what the government’s party has termed as a “limited reshuffle”

General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party John Boadu who has been sitting in the Akufo-Addo government’s cabinet meetings said Wednesday explained the reshuffle has been necessitated by the vacancy at the Energy Ministry.

According to him, finding a replacement for Mr. Boakye Agyarko who was sacked on Monday over the botched renegotiated Ameri deal will mean some ministers will be moved around ministries and in the process some will be booted out completely

“What will be done really is not a full-scale reshuffle; it’s just a limited one. What I’m saying is what will be done will be a limited one as a result of the vacancy occurring at the Energy Ministry,” he said on TV3’s morning magazine show, New Day.

Mr. Boadu declined to give further details on the impending reshuffle which will be Akufo-Addo’s first since assuming office on January 7, 2017 but said “some few ministers may not come back ” to their post.

He said the President will decide whether to make Mr. Peter Amewu who is currently acting at the Energy Minister to go back to his Lands and Natural Resource Ministry or stay at the Energy Ministry as substantive Minister.

“Either the one acting goes back to his ministry or maintained there,” he explained to Johnny Hughes, adding in the event he is maintained at the Energy Ministry, “it means we must replace where he’s coming from. If the person [replacement] comes from a region or another ministry, it means that he must be replaced”.

Mr. Boakye Agyarko was sacked by President Akufo-Addo on Monday following the failed renegotiated Ameri deal which would have extended the management of the 250 megawatts Ameri Thermal Plant from five years to 15 years.

Parliament was forced to suspend consideration of the bill covering the new deal as it failed to come with the requisite document. MPs demanded that government provided further and better particulars on the new deal before it rose for recess last.

Before the documents could be provided by the Energy Ministry, reports emerged the President was misled in giving the approval to the agreement which has widely been criticised by experts in the energy sector as not being in the interest of Ghana.

Consequently, the President reportedly has since caused the agreement to be cancelled.