The government has shrugged off criticisms from mainly the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) that Tuesday’s ministerial reshuffle was a diversionary tactic designed to douse the flames ignited by the 30 per cent price hikes in petroleum products.
NPP Chairman, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey described the reshuffle as ‘musical chairs’ which will not bring any significant improvement in the performance of the government.
But responding to the NPP Chairman, a Deputy Information Minister, James Agyenim-Boateng, said unlike the Kufuor government which was reputed for giving taxi drivers ministerial appointments, the Mills administration has appointed competent people to manage the nation’s affairs.
He wondered whether Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey’s own itinerant stops as Chief of Staff, Information Minister, and Minister for Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital – where he only managed to modernize a state bungalow and attempted to buy it – was musical chairs.
Mr Agyenim-Boateng told Joy FM the reshuffle will re-energise and reinvigorate the government in tandem with the president’s mantra that this is an action year. He said many of the ministers who had been reshuffled had done tremendously well in their respective ministries and that the president wanted them to bring their experience to bear on other ministries.
Mr Agyenim-Boateng eulogized outgoing Education Minister, Alex Tettey-Enyo, who he said has paid his dues to the state, starting off from the classroom and rising through the ranks to become a Director General of the Ghana Education Service and eventually as a minister.
Gabby disagrees
The Executive Director of policy think tank, Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, said simply moving ministers with not too encouraging records to different ministries was not the solution to the government’s problem of incompetence.
Gabby was not too impressed with Mr. Tettey-Enyo’s replacement – Attorney-General Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, – whom he said has been criticised by some in the ruling party and other supporters as well as some in the opposition party.
He also took issues with Local Government Minister, Joseph Yieleh Chireh, who he accused of presiding over messy, chaotic assembly elections and who has now been moved to the Health Ministry.
The Danquah Institute boss said given Mr Chireh’s sluggish performance at the Local Government Ministry, he could not be relied on to prosecute the necessary reforms in the health sector. Gabby said while making tepid changes at the ministerial level, a critical sector of the government – the public sector – had been completely ignored, a situation he believes partly accounts for what he said was the government’s below average performance.