What does the Ministry of Employment do? – Prof Gyampo asks

Prof Ransford Yaw Gyampo has questioned the essence of having a whole Ministry of Employment when it cannot offer employment to graduates.

According to him, if the ministry exists to deal with labour-related issues, then the National Labour Commission should be empowered to do so because “matters of employment are cross-sectoral and must remain so”.

Consequently, the Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana's Political Science Department opined that the Ministry of Employment should be scrapped.

His write-up follows President Nana Akufo-Addo’s release of minister-nominees for his second term of office which has been submitted to Parliament for approval through the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin.

This list comprises the names of 46 persons expected to fill various ministerial positions and support the president to fulfil his mandate in the next four years.

Eugene Arhin, the acting Director of Communications at the Jubilee House, before the official release of the ministerial list, issued a press release indicating that the total number of ministers to be appointed by the president for his second term will not exceed 85.

Prof Gyampo believes the number is too huge for Ghana to have a government with 85 ministers of state.

He argues that Japan used to run the world’s third-largest economy with 17 ministers. The "UK has less than 30 Ministers and the US has less than 40 ministers. Similarly, South Africa and Senegal have less than 40 ministers. Why is it that many of these countries that are richer and more populous than us, run a lean government?"

Prof Ransford Gyampo then suggested that some ministries need to be scrapped for Ghana to have a leaner government and also better-facilitate the president’s development agenda.

He emphasised: “Information ministry must be scrapped. After all, apart from the Vice President and Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, no NPP functionary better informed the public about anything in the President’s first term. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah may simply be a Presidential Spokesperson without a whole ministry created for him.”

“The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs must also be scrapped. It is undemocratic and undermines the principles of separation of powers, and checks and balances. It is a needless attempt to make the parliamentary arm of government subservient to the executive.”

He continued: “The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture must be added to the Ministry of Agriculture. The overarching ministry would be the Ministry of Agriculture and a desk can be set up to deal with matters of fisheries, livestock and other related Agric enterprises,” Prof Gyampo wrote in his statement.

He added that under the Transport Ministry, the Ministry of Railway Development can be subsumed because Railways provide a means of transport to the citizenry.

“The Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources may be scrapped. The District Assemblies must be empowered to go back to their traditional ‘saman-saman’ sanitation role, which they performed creditably in time past. The Water Resources bit of the ministry may simply be added to the Natural Resources Ministry,” he stressed.

Read below Prof Gyampo’s full write-up.