Pay attention to infrastructure development in your second term - Dr Antwi-Danso tells Akufo-Addo

The Akufo-Addo government in its second term in office should endeavour to pay more attention to infrastructure development like roads, railways and others, to galvanise national development efforts, Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an International Affairs expert, has advised.

He said, "Research has shown that two per cent increment in infrastructure creates 40 per cent socio-economic activities and so we need to focus on that area as a nation".

Dr Antwi-Danso, also the Dean of Academic Affairs, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, underlined the need to tackle the fight against illegal small- scale mining seriously, otherwise known as " galamsey" since the menace could erode the gains made so far.

"We should drum home to the people that galamsey could destroy us if we don't tackle it holistically, and so anyone coming to head the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources should work very hard to address it," he said.

Dr Antwi-Danso commended the President for re-nominating some "tried and tested" former ministers for approval.

He admonished the ministerial nominees not to disappoint the President and good people of Ghana in the delivery of their mandate when approved by parliament.

"The President has not moved away much from people he tried and tested in his first term and shows the confidence he had in them and I believe that they did very well in their respective portfolios.

"My only regret is Hajia Alima Mahama, former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development who could not get the ministerial nomination in the second term.

" That woman was very hard working and knows the nitty-gritty of local governance and I believe it was because she lost her parliamentary seat and makes it difficult for her to be renominated, " Dr Antwi-Danso observed.

He, however, believed that the appointing authority rested with the President and knows those he could work with to deliver his mandate.

"The President wants them to continue the good work and even improve upon it. And every Ghanaian with the analytical mind will say that the President did very well in his first term in office despite the election results. The evidence on the ground speaks for itself, and his ministers who performed well deserved to be retained," Dr Antwi-Danso added.

President Akufo-Addo on Thursday, January 21, 2021, submitted a list of 46 sector and regional ministers-designate to Parliament for vetting and subsequent approval.

They included 19 ministers who served in the first term whilst seven ministries created during his first tenure have either been merged or scrapped.

There were eight female nominee ministers and a person with a disability (PWD).

The Akufo-Addo-led administration was criticised extensively for having an elephant-sized government in his first term and promised to maintain a lean government with not more than 85 ministers whilst the number of ministries reduced from 36 to 28.

Also, there would be no deputy regional ministers.

Dr Antwi-Danso said it would have been unpredictable if the President had changed the whole team and brought new faces.

On the number of women nominated, Dr Antwi-Danso said he did not believe in quantity as a criterion for measuring the efficiency of a government.

"I believed the President has chosen who deserved to be chosen because it's not only about putting more women into government and nothing changes.

" The President is wise enough to choose women who could do the job and deliver as expected, "Dr Antwi-Danso stated.