President Akufo-Addo has come under severe criticisms after new appointments he made on Wednesday brought the number of ministers and deputy minsters to 110.
With this number of appointees, Akufo Addo’s government becomes the biggest ever in the Fourth Republic. The previous NPP government led by former President John Agyekum Kufuor had 88 ministers, the Mills administration that succeeded it had 69 ministerial appointees while the Mahama administration, had 78 ministerial appointments.
Speaking to the issue in an interview with the Daily Graphic and Ghana Television (GTV) in his office at the Flagstaff House, Thursday, President Akufo Addo debunked claims that his government is the biggest ever in the Fourth Republic.
According to him, the problems facing the country need bold and ambitious measures to address them.
“I don’t believe that my government in the Fourth Republic has big numbers in view of the swollen challenges. These are the background and the circumstances that were facing my government and the people of Ghana; hence they need a new paradigm shift to solve the problems. We have a problem and what is the best way? It is better to have men and women capable of serving the nation’s interests and to work to grow the economy. If I succeed, you will soon find out the brouhaha is nothing compared to the success” he stated
Akufo Addo stated that his government has inherited unprecedented challenges; a situation which is worse than any other administration.
“I don’t believe that any government in the fourth republic has inherited the challenges that my government has inherited…we are talking about a country with a 74 percent GDP-to-debt ratio, a GHc 2.4 billion debt overhang in the energy sector, persistent decline in growth rate, lowest rate of 2.6 percent growth rate in the agriculture sector over the past 20 years, widespread unemployment, the major issue of corruption and the persistent leakage of revenue in our system…
…when you put all of these circumstances together, my assessment is that we need to really put all hands on deck. We need the cooperation of my party and my country that will allow me to deal with all these issues and already the signs are that this government, in spite of these huge challenges, has begun to put some order in the circumstances of our country.”
Source: Peacefmonline.com
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
How Efficient are you if you need a sledgehammer to kill an ant? Akufo Addo and Mad-Mad-Dog Bawumia are so INCOMPETENT!!!!!
Mr. President, please with due respect,listen to the voice of the people. Do you remember the beautiful deputy minister(I have forgotten the name), probably Hannah something, who was caught on tape and Mahama was forced to fire her? She said she wanted to make million dollars before she left politics. She confessed that there was nothing to do as deputy minister. I believed her and I still do. There is absolutely nothing to do as a deputy minister. What are the job description assigned to a deputy minster that will not conflict with the job of the minister? Please rethink and do what is right.
it is very good when your party is in opposition. i can see a lot of ndc morns now showing themselves here. Nana pls just go on appoint as many as you dim fit for the job at stake. now u are the president and knows better than anyone not even that incompetent man whose actions broke down everything. he has absolutely no idea the extent of mess he was creating. i know he will never come out to tell the truth to the nation of what they have done to this nation but God knows you are doing what you can to save the situation. pls go ahead and appoint more.
It seems to me that somehow, many Ghanaians are trapped in the guilt complex mode. They say, "abaa a y3de bo Takyi no 3noaa na y3debo Baah". That is, in order to be fair, we must necessarily criticize Akufo Addo in very harsh terms, the same way Mahama was treated (especially by the then opposition NPP). But for me this thinking would be very unfortunate and fallacious if indeed my suspicion is correct. Two reasons. First, Mahama's government didn't just start being criticized out of vacuum. His government had a long history of blunders dating back to Prez Mills' term. He inherited a government that was already losing popularity due to the perception that Prez Mills wasn't in proper control of the affairs of the state. And when he (Mahama) took over in July 2012, he failed to assure Ghanaians that his government would do better from 2013 on if elected. Indeed, things only got worse by the day with him as a president after the 2012 elections. The dumsor nightmare,the SADA, Woyome,bus branding, rising youth unemployment, etc, etc etc, all elicited the anger of frustrated Ghanaians. Thus, criticisms of the Mahama government were well-deserved (and perhaps even too mild for the gravity of the issues) . Secondly, if we feel we unfairly critized Prez Mahama's government, then the only remedy for that is for us to repent and perhaps apologize to him. It would be irrational for us to start dishing out criticisms in equal measure to Akufo Addo just so we can satisfy our sense of fairness and justice. Otherwise, we are only multiplying our guilt and deepening our sorrows. Let's wait till Akufo Addo earns his own title to be criticized. So far, he deserves no such treatment; and a useful truth about life is, "don't attack without cause". The size of any government is meaningless by itself; it must be judged in the light of its output or returns. So far, we have no results from his government to enable us judge. Thus, I think that the Akufo Addo government is being victimized by guilt-complex Ghanaians. Let's not rob ourselves the refreshing benefits of fresh starts.
this Akufo old man kruaaa, what kind of elementary explanation is that. they say you are an educated person so where is this explanation coming from.
Northern Region are BEHIND in Education & I expected the president & his vice to elect a northern person for education. VP the northern region need more northerners in NPP party. Count the number of ministers from the north & one will scratch his or her head.
Sheikh Akufo Addo does not know what he is talking about. His view of the Ghanaian economy is outmoded, dead and backward. He speaks as if Ghana has lots of foreign exchange reserve sitting somewhere. The problem is that the NPP and NDC has destroyed the economy of Ghana through mismanagement and corruption. How can Ghana learn from Rwanda and Mauritius? Shiekh Akufo Addo has no idea about the financial well being of the country. He does not show how to generate revenue from an economy that is historically unproductive but only relies on loans, handouts and excessive taxation. The country is not producing so how can it generate revenue? That is the question. Ghana depends on the exports of raw materials and statistics show that countries that depend on the export of raw materials are either poor or bound to be poor. A country like Thailand has no natural resources yet it has a better GDP than Ghana. How come? Ghana has more natural resources than Malaysia and Bahrain yet the latter have better economies. How come? Folks , it is not about the size of government. It is better management of scarce resources by competent brains and selfless public servants and private entrepreneurs. The development of any countries lies in the prudent performance of the private sector. Large size of government which we are about to see soon will drain the ***barred word*** out of the public purse. Sheikh Akufo Addo seem out of touch of what is happening and going on in the Ghanaian economy. If he had the panacea to turn things around , why did he not do it during the Kuffour's era. Ghanaian politicians are the same. Chop, chop, through corruption and nepotism. Ghanaians must be awake and protect their own public purse because the NPP is about to destroy this country. Poor policies and unexciting programs in place will not help this country. Peace
We went to the polls voting for change but not knowing we were voting for toaso. Where is the change we were promise
You are just as crazy as your analysis when did JK move us from hipc to lower middle. Do you know when we moved to middle lower income status? You cannot deceive all of us with your half baked analysis just to satisfy your ignorance. You are the types causing our country's downfall because you don't tell the truth when it is needed. I am telling you that Kuffuor never moved us into lower middle income status, its mills.
I am sorry to say this man is not serious because all justifications for these numbers do not hold water and does not make sense. i better be a spectator as he is not up to anything good. #disappointed