The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has dismissed assertion that government’s huge team of appointees might result in mass corruption.
NPP Deputy Communications Director, Mike Ocquaye Jnr., said there is no evidence to prove that previous regimes which had small teams were less corrupt.
On the contrary, he said there were governments with lower number of ministers that were very corrupt.
He also indicated that the arguement that a small team is efficient than a huge one does not apply to Ghana because of her peculiar political system.
Speaking on Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis programme Saturday, Mr Ocquaye Jnr. said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is focused on bolstering the economy of the country which has to be supported by the citizens.
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The president has suffered severe backlash after he appointed 54 additional Ministers to his already 36 Ministers. This brings to 110, the total number of government appointees.
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Political opponents and some civil societies have registered their displeasure, casting doubts on the President’s promise to protect the public purse.
Political science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has said the huge size of government might encourage corruption since it would be difficult to monitor activities of all the ministers.
The President has explained he settled on the number because of the challenges facing the country which he said require more “men and women” on deck.
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He is convinced the ‘brouhaha’ generated by the size of his government will fizzle out after the economy begins to improve in the coming years.
Adding his voice to the defence, Mr Ocquaye Jnr., said former President John Mahama’s government was heavily accused of corruption despite having 84 Ministers.
He said out of the 110 Ministers, 65 percent of them are Members of Parliament (MP) and they would not be entitled to double salaries, but rather one.
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“We cannot always just look at the cost of everything and not the value of it,” he quoted former President Kufuor, adding everything would be forgotten if “these people together are able to succeed.”
But Bawku Central MP, Mahama Ayariga, said the President has set a bad precedent with his decision which he believes defeats arguments that the number of civil servants has to be reduced.
“By expanding the size of government, it makes it difficult to say you need a smaller size of civil service when you are expanding yours,” he noted.
