Acting Spokesperson for the Presidency, Felix Kwakye Ofosu

The Acting Spokesperson for the Presidency, Felix Kwakye Ofosu has defended President Mahama’s nomination of three ministers.

The President on Thursday, nominated Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson for the Finance Ministry, John Jinapor for Energy and Dr. Dominic Ayine as Minister for Justice.

The list which was submitted to Parliament was however met with intense scrutiny from the Minority who said the announcement of only three nominees meant the National Democratic Congress was not ready for power.

However, speaking exclusively to Starr News, Kwakye Ofosu noted that there will be more of such announcements in the coming days.

“Even before President Mahama took over, he had been taking steps to ensure that, once in office, a functional government would be in place. He announced the ORAL team, the security team, and appointed staff at the Office of the President. He has also made three ministerial nominations, with more to follow in the coming days. His aim is to form his government as quickly as possible.”

“This urgency stems from the pressing challenges we face across all sectors. The energy sector, the economy, and nearly every part of our national life are under severe stress. The sooner the government is in place, the better. That is why President Mahama is moving at such a pace, even while maintaining significant levels of meticulousness.”

“President Mahama has promised the leanest government in Ghana’s history. He has committed to assembling an efficient team with the requisite expertise, experience, and know-how to turn around the dire situation our country faces.” He added

Meanwhile, Minority Leader Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin has questioned the rationale behind the piecemeal announcements.

“When the names were read out by Mr. Speaker, only three names were announced: the finance minister designate, the energy minister designate, and the attorney general and minister of justice. These few appointments are simply unacceptable.”

“This is the same government that promised a 24-hour economy while in opposition. They assured us they were ready to govern.”

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has officially launched a public appeal to gather insights and feedback on its historic loss in the 2024 general elections.

The party’s Election Review Committee has provided an email address to receive information from party members and stakeholders.

In a statement released on January 11, 2025, the Secretary of the 2024 Election Review Committee, William Yamoah, emphasized the importance of collecting diverse perspectives to better understand the factors that led to the party’s electoral defeat.

“The 2024 Election Review Committee is pleased to announce to all party members and stakeholders à dedicated email address to facilitate the collection of information, insights, and suggestions from hard-to-reach party members and stakeholders.

“We encourage all party members and individuals with relevant information regarding factors that influenced the 2024 election outcome to share their input via [email protected].

“We look forward to receiving your contributions and insights as we work to strengthen our processes,” the statement read.

The Electoral Commission Chairperson, Jean Mensa, on Monday, December 9, 2024, declared John Dramani Mahama the then candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) the winner of the election, with a total of 6,328,397 votes.

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia of the NPP received 4,657,304 votes.

Mahama’s party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), achieved historic success by gaining a huge majority in Parliament.

pic.twitter.com/VbWxHhteWQ

— New Patriotic Party (@NPP_GH) January 11, 2025

AM/KA

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The Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons, has described President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to cut down ministries as a response to public sentiments and not about running an efficient government.

He explained that most of the ministries that have been scrapped or merged receive low finances to run during budget allocation, which means that it will not have a major impact on attaining government efficiency.

The IMANI Africa vice president further noted that the bigger ministries like health, education, and institutions like the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), and others are the real cost drivers that need to be reviewed to save costs instead of scrapping the less significant ones.

In an article titled, ‘The Stressful Difference between Cutting Ministries and Cutting Costs in Ghana,’ Bright Simons explained why Mahama’s move is a response to sentiments.

“Because, frankly, the usual concern about the “number of ministers” is primarily about optics and symbolism. The people just don’t like seeing presidents appoint a large number of ministers because it “feels” and “looks” quite “obscene.” Cutting down the number of ministries and ministers is thus an exercise in “reading the sentiments” of the public, and in being “responsive” and not about lean and efficient government reforms per se. Being a “listening government” can have its own rewards separate from efficiency gains.

“To actually move in the direction of government efficiency, you must ask whether the thousands of workers in collapsed ministries would leave the government payroll or would simply be redistributed. How come we never touch the actual agencies where 98% of public workers and government business reside? Ministries are merely the tip of the iceberg. Agencies like the Police, Ghana Educational Service, and Ghana Revenue Authority are far heftier. State-owned enterprises like GNPC and ECG matter in every respect of spending efficiency than 60% of ministries,” he noted.

Simons shed more light on the reason the scrapped ministries do not make financial gains for the country as the staff may be redistributed to the government payroll.

He also added that one of the ways of saving government spending is undertaking reforms in the health and education ministries to trim their budgets.

“Furthermore, ministries are very varied. There are some like the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs that received, on average, less than $5 million a year as its entire budget. The funny Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs gets barely $600k a year. Frankly, ministries like that and the one for “business development” won’t be missed by anyone. They look like nuisances. On that score alone, citizens like to see them axed. But their total burden on the exchequer is puny.

“Then there are the giant ministries. Health, education, Roads & Highways, and the Interior. Education gets a cool $2 billion a year, more than 20% of the total government budget in most years. In fact, in 2024, the budget of the Ghanaian Ministry of Education was twice that of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education (in dollar value at market rate). Even if you add all public spending on education in Nigeria up, Ghana’s ministry still spends more. It is a true behemoth. The Health Ministry gets a billion dollars. If you really want to make major savings in government spending, you could introduce reforms in health and education that would eclipse the savings made from abolishing 5 ministries,” he added.

He further continued, “And, here I am talking about truly ABOLISHING. Like, man, sacking workers and auctioning V8s. Not the Ghana-style ministerial collapses in which everything remains as before except the few titles dropped. Anyway, the issue of how to save money across the government is a very broad and multifaceted one. The biggest area is actually in debt management. Then capital expenditure. And finally procurement related to general government operations. Only then does one even get to payroll issues.”

This comes after President Mahama announced the reduction of ministries from 30 to 23 to help his government run efficiently.

Read the full article below:

The Stressful Difference between Cutting Ministries & Cutting Costs in Ghana

1. Ghana’s new president has reduced the number of government ministries to 23 from the previous 30 in line with his campaign promises.

2. When it comes to clustering subsectors to create ministries, every wise person you meet would have different opinions.

3. In the 2000s, the Kufuor government decided that “youth and sports” belonged with “education.” The Mills government disagreed. But the latter government felt that “works and housing” somehow fit well with “water resources.” In all this clustering business, no government ever bothers to detail its thoughts as to justification. It is just what it is.

4. I, too, can have an opinion without explanation, I guess. Looking at the new list, I might argue that “water resources” fit best with “land and natural resources” due to similar concessioning and control issues. And that the same ministry should handle “environment.” “Innovations”, nowadays, fit best, in my modest view, with “Science and Technology”. I might question why “agribusiness” is being pulled out of Agriculture and ask whether “pharma business” too doesn’t deserve to be pulled out of “health” if we want to go on that tangent. Etc. I doubt anyone cares.

5. Because, frankly, the usual concern about the “number of ministers” is primarily about optics and symbolism. The people just don’t like seeing presidents appoint a large number of ministers because it “feels” and “looks” quite “obscene.”

6. Cutting down the number of ministries and ministers is thus an exercise in “reading the sentiments” of the public, and in being “responsive” and not about lean and efficient government reforms per se. Being a “listening government” can have its own rewards separate from efficiency gains.

7. To actually move in the direction of government efficiency, you must ask whether the thousands of workers in collapsed ministries would leave the government payroll or would simply be redistributed. How come we never touch the actual agencies where 98% of public workers and government business reside? Ministries are merely the tip of the iceberg. Agencies like the Police, Ghana Educational Service, and Ghana Revenue Authority are far heftier. State-owned enterprises like GNPC and ECG matter in every respect of spending efficiency than 60% of ministries.

8. Would there be less spending on bureaucracy across the government as a whole following the reduction in the number of ministries? Where are the financial numbers to prove this? If you went back in history and compared spending on “office of government machinery” before and after “listening governments” cut down on the numbers of ministers, you might be surprised to see that the expense tends to increase year on year regardless.

9. Furthermore, ministries are very varied. There are some like the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs that received, on average, less than $5 million a year as its entire budget. The funny Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs gets barely $600k a year. Frankly, ministries like that and the one for “business development” won’t be missed by anyone. They look like nuisances. On that score alone, citizens like to see them axed. But their total burden on the exchequer is puny.

10. Then there are the giant ministries. Health, education, Roads & Highways, and the Interior. Education gets a cool $2 billion a year, more than 20% of the total government budget in most years. In fact, in 2024, the budget of the Ghanaian ministry of education was twice that of the Nigerian federal ministry of education (in dollar value at market rate). Even if you add all public spending on education in Nigeria up, Ghana’s ministry still spends more. It is a true behemoth. The Health Ministry gets a billion dollars. If you really want to make major savings in government spending, you could introduce reforms in health and education that would eclipse the savings made from abolishing 5 ministries. And, here I am talking about truly ABOLISHING. Like, man, sacking workers and auctioning V8s. Not the Ghana-style ministerial collapses in which everything remains as before except the few titles dropped.

11. Anyway, the issue of how to save money across the government is a very broad and multifaceted one. The biggest area is actually in debt management. Then capital expenditure. And finally procurement related to general government operations. Only then does one even get to payroll issues. Ministerial perks should be on the list somewhere, for sure, perhaps on page 17 of the memo, in between stationery and guest house management. Fuel coupons, useless workshops, and travel imprest are all certainly higher up.

12. In short, the issues plenty. And Mr. President has only 4 years. So, the work dey. Serious! But God too dey.

Watch the full swearing-in of John Mahama

SB/MA