President John Dramani Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama has concluded the nomination of persons to lead the country's local and central government departments.
Some of these nominees have already been inducted into office following approval by Ghana's Parliament.
The president proposed 42 people to serve as central government and regional ministries.
Sixteen (16) of these nominees will serve as regional ministers, 23 as ministers, and three (3) as ministers of state.
This article looks into Mahama's nominees by gender, religion, educational qualifications, experience, and area.
Gender
President Mahama promised throughout his campaign that at least 30% of his administration appointees will be women.
An examination of the 42 nominees for various ministries demonstrates that this promise has not been kept in this regard.
Only seven of the 42 nominees are women, accounting for 17% of all nominations. The remaining 35 are men, accounting for 83% of the total nominations.
Of the 26 central government ministers, only four (15%) are female. Only three of the 16 regional ministers are women, accounting for 19% of all nominees.
It is probable that the president would boost the proportion of female appointees in other sectors of his administration, such as the appointments of Municipal, District, and Metropolitan Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and Chief Executive Officers of State-owned Enterprises.
Position in past NDC governments
An examination of the nominees also reveals that the president mostly kept his appointees from his last term in office, from 2012 to 2015.
Of the 42 nominees, 18 (43%) served in Mahama's previous cabinet, while the remaining 24 (57%) are newbies.
In the central government ministries, 10 of Mahama's candidates (38%) were deputy ministers, while seven (27%) were ministers in his previous administration.
Only eight of the candidates (31%) are newcomers.
Only one nominee for the regional ministries has previously served in Mahama's government. One of the nominees was a former Member of Parliament, and the other 14 (88%) are newbies.
Highest Educational Qualification
President Mahama's ministerial nominations come from a variety of educational backgrounds, including bachelor's degrees and doctorates.
Four (4) of the nominees (10%) have doctorates (PhDs), 24 (57%) have master's degrees, with some holding multiple degrees, and 12 (29%) have bachelor's degrees.
Two (2) nominees, or 5% of the total nominations, are medical doctors with master's degrees in other subjects.
Region
Every region in the country received at least one (1) of President Mahama's 26 central government portfolios, in addition to their regional ministry nominees.
The Volta and Northern regions garnered the most nominations, each with four nominees. The Ashanti, Eastern, Bono, Western North, Western, and Greater Accra regions all earned three nominations.
The remaining areas received two nominations apiece.
Members of Parliament.
President Mahama also fulfilled a clause in Ghana's 1992 Constitution that requires the majority of his cabinet to be nominated by Parliament.
23 of the 42 nominees are members of the 9th Parliament, accounting for 55% of the total nominations.
For core government ministries, 22 of the nominees (85%) are MPs, while four (15%) are not.
Only one of the local government minister-designates is an MP, while the other 15 are not members of Ghana's Parliament.
Religion
Mahama's nominees represent two of the country's three major faith groups: Christianity and Islam.
35 (83%) of the 42 nominees are Christians, Ghana's main religious group, which accounts for more than 70% of the population.
Seven (7) nominees, or 17% of the total nominations, are of the Islamic faith, Ghana's second-largest religious group, comprising around 20% of the population.