The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has disclosed that the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is considering reducing the number of his ministers.
The Minister revealed this yesterday, during an interview on Accra-based Peace FM, to explain the President’s address to the nation last Sunday.
The idea, if executed, would further reduce the number of ministers, which currently stands at 80. This would be similar to what the president did when he transitioned from his first term in office to his second term, when he reduced the size of his ministers from 125 to about 80.
He said it would be part of measures to check the government’s expenditure, together with the 30% salary cut for all government appointees.
The move would also mean the government has a listening ear, since the general public have constantly advocated for reduction in the size of government.
ARGUMENT
Critics have opined that the large number of ministers burdens the ailing national kitty. Some have argued that a country like Ghana does not need a large number of ministers, as the population is small, compared to other countries.
In his first term, President Akufo-Addo explained to Ghanaians the reason for appointing 125 ministers. He said each had a specific role to play. However, after his first term mandate, he announced a lesser number of ministers for his second term, explaining that some ministries in the previous term had outlived their usefulness.
In yesterday’s interview, the Minister for Information reiterated the President’s argument on why he had not reshuffled his ministers.
He stated that the President had said he would rather deal with specifics, such as if evidence abounds that an appointee was under-performing, he would fire that person. The Minister cited examples, but shied away from mentioning the appointee affected.
TIME LINES
Meanwhile, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah was silent on time lines. He did not specify when the President would make the decision to reduce the number of ministers, based on his consideration of opinions of the general public.
According to the Minister, the entire economy is in crisis and the important step to take would be how to save the situation. He said, in that regard, the President last Sunday announced 12 measures to be undertaken.
“So, from there, he will look at the other opinions that are being discussed,” Kojo told Kwami Sefa Kayi in the Akan language.
SIKA MPƐ DEDE
The President, opening a paragraph of his address on the depreciation of the Ghana Cedi, said “Fellow Ghanaians, as the French would say, l’argent n’aime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise, sika mpɛ dede.”
He went further to explain that “Where there is chaos, where there is noise, where there is unrest, you will not find money. If you talk down your money, it will go down. If you allow some unidentifiable person to talk down your money, it will go down.”
This statement from the President has gained all the attention across the country, with divergent interpretations.
The Minister of Information did not let the opportunity pass him by, taking the time to explain the message during the interview yesterday.
He stated that the President’s ‘sika mpɛ dede’ quote was in reference to speculations on the impact of the cedi depreciation.
Kojo Oppong Nkrumah noted that some people are spreading false information that people who have their investments with the banks risk losing them, thus creating fear and panic.
“I think the President said that in reference to the speculation issue. If we don’t let the real purposes for currency trade work and we create panic in the system with people making social media audio that you should remove your money from the bank, this will result in panic.
Then you will go to the banks and people are trying to do withdrawals to buy dollars because they have seen something on social media or sometimes you will see news websites [otherwise well-respected news websites] have done a story like it happened on Friday, that if you have a dollar, the government will seize it and give cedis, and that creates panic; so the point the President was making was all those things don’t help,” he said.
