On the Feast of St. Valentine, some Ghanaians had the best gifts of their lives and some had their worst nightmares. This is about the ministerial reshuffle by the President.
Some MPs have been appointed into government; some have been re-assigned, while others have been kicked out of government.
It is speculated that the president decided not to have anything to do with sitting MPs who are not going to contest parliamentary election, this December and so, very dedicated people like Dan Botwe, and Amoakwa-Atta who thought they have had enough with Parliament, and others like Tina Mensah, Moses Anim and Freda Prempeh, who lost their primaries were shown the exit. All these people have always sacrificed for the president and the NPP.
These hardworking members of government are still MPs. Until Parliament dissolves, they will continue to do business for government in the House.
The fact that they will not be MPs come January 2025, does not mean they are irrelevant now. By the way, the President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo-Addo, will also not be president, January, next year. So, he and those members of government who are MPs and are not contesting elections this year, are on the same plane. If he is still in office, why should he send away these ministers?
Shall we tell the president that he really hurt these fine and dedicated ladies and gentlemen, who put their lives down for him and for the party?
Dan Botwe was handling local government, fairly well; Amoakwa-Atta’s face is all over the new roads being constructed all across the country; Freda Prempeh, exhibited near excellence as minister of state at the Housing ministry and was about to shine in the Sanitation ministry; Tina Mensah as deputy minister of Health, handled her ministry very well, while the sector minister was almost lost in action and Moses Anim was the pillar behind the dynamic Fisheries minister, who has proven that the ministry can stand on its own and should never be put under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
These gentlemen and ladies will certainly be missed. So, shall we tell the president, even though it is will not change anything?
In the midst of all this, we heard Hon. Freddy Blay, saying that the reshuffle came in too late. Did we hear right? Did the former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, truly say that the President should have gone ahead to reshuffle his government two years ago, which he believed would have made significant changes for the country?
Of the over seven years of this administration, Hon Freddy Blay was in charge of the party for six years. Two years as acting chairman and four years as substantive chairman. All these six years, has he ever advised the President to reshuffle his ministers? Is he saying this now, so as to shift blames on the president if things go wrong?
Was it not this same Freddy Blay who, in May last year, dismissed calls for his resignation as Chairman of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)? Why did he not step down and maybe instigated some reshuffle among Chairpersons and CEOs? Even though he is no longer that National Chairman of the NPP, he is still at post at GNPC, while the current Chairman, Steve Ntim, has been given nothing, at all, and left on his own.
In July 2022, the Steve Ntim’s led administration took over the NPP and they have succeeded in making the President, reshuffle his ministers, achieving within two years, what Freddy could not do in six years.
Shall we tell the President that his bosom friend is telling the world that he, the leader of the nation, does things only in the late hour at the time when no results will be achieved? The question is that, as a long-time friend and brother of the president, senior member of the party and member of the president’s private think-tank, did Freddy Blay ever give advice and suggestions to H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo?
We heard that the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has served notice in Parliament that all the re-assigned ministers should be vetted. Reshuffling of ministers is primarily defined as, a political leader changing the jobs of his or her ministers with some changing their responsibilities.
The NDC have got the voice in Parliament to make any pronouncements that it likes. When were re-assigned ministers, re-vetted? Only the NDC will pull this stunt. But here again, shall we tell the President that because he allowed the imposition of parliamentary candidates on constituencies in the 2020 General Elections, he indirectly caused the drastic reduction of NPP MPs in the House?
Regional chairmen could walk up to him and propose that this or that party member was not fit to be MP and he will give them the nod to remove them. When the replacements were not the choice of the constituency electorates, NPP lost the seat and this affected its numbers in Parliament
We are glad that this did not occur in the recent primaries and we hope in 2024, the NDC MPs will drastically reduce in the House, so that statements like re-vetting of re-assigned ministers in the same term of government will not be heard from the floor of the House.
Yes, shall we tell the President, all these?
By Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
