President William Akufo Addo of Ghana whose ruling party, the New Patriotic Party, prides itself as apostles of democracy, rule of law and good governance, has failed/refused to name his Cabinet as required by the country’s constitution five months after been sworn into office.
Article 76 (1) of the country’s constitution requires every newly sworn-in president to constitute a Cabinet consisting of not less than 10, and not more than 19 ministers among Ministers appointed by the President.
The Cabinet, article 76(2) provides, “shall assist the President in the determination of general policy of the Government.”
But, five months into office, President Akufo-Addo, an astute lawyer and strong advocate of rule of law, has brazenly refused to adhere to this simple requirement of Ghana’s constitution, sending tongues wagging.
The President hurriedly appointed a record 110 Ministers and deputies out of which 40 are sector Ministers, but has refused to name which of the Ministers constitute his Cabinet even though he has openly confirmed the existence of Cabinet.
Commenting on President Akufo-Addo’s refusal to make public his Cabinet, a Political Science lecturer at the nation’s premier university, who specialized in good governance told The aL-hAJJ that, “it is very unfortunate for our president who is also a constitutional law expert to flagrantly violate the constitution in this early days…how then is he governing the country, is it by himself or he has a Cabinet assisting him take those major and important decisions that we are not aware?” he quizzed.
Adding that “President Akufo-Addo is not serving himself neither is he serving only NPP, he is serving Ghana, and Ghanaians are demanding to know the membership of his Cabinet. It should not have taken anybody to require that names of Cabinet ministers are made public before it is published. Why should a President who is a respected lawyer and believer of transparent governance be shielding his Cabinet from Ghanaians?”
According to the University don, the President’s refusal to make public the list of his Cabinet Ministers “is denting his image as someone who has carried himself as an apostle of rule of law and promoter of good governance. This is a blot on his credentials…it does not speak well of his government. Why operate a secret Cabinet?” he asked.
It has been reported that President Akufo Addo is unable or unwilling to make public, including to parliament, ministers in his government constituting his Cabinet because it is bloated and lopsided. It has been alleged that President Akufo-Addo has nominated 26 out of his 40 sector Ministers to form his Cabinet.
Critics say, while two regions out of the 10 administrative regions and incidentally, the only strongholds of the NPP, Ashanti and the President’s native region, Eastern, have more than half of ministers forming Cabinet, Central and Western regions have no representation on the Cabinet.
President Akufo-Addo’s refusal to name his Cabinet is at variance with practices under his predecessors who operated a “lean” government but named their Cabinet Ministers in considerably good time.
While former President Jerry John Rawlings chose 19 and 25 ministers in1993 and 2001 respectively to serve under his government, John Agyekum Kufuor had 31 ministers serving his administration in 2001 and 2008. Late President John Atta Mills also appointed 23 Ministers and his successor John Mahama increased it to 24.
Incidentally, all these past Presidents made public their list of Cabinet Ministers. However, President Akufo-Addo, who has appointed a record 40 Sector Ministers, has failed to follow the steps of his predecessors.
Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu and a Presidential Staffer under the Mahama administration and now, MP for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak among other well-meaning Ghanaians; have been relentless in their calls on President Akufo-Addo to announce his Cabinet.
Hon Haruna Iddrisu charged President Nana Akufo-Addo to name his cabinet ministers to Parliament in accordance with Article 76 of the 1992 constitution. Seconding the motion for the approval of regional ministers-designate in Parliament on Friday 17, 2016, the minority leader said 46 ministers have so far been approved by the House and the time has come for the President to name his cabinet ministers.
This, according to him, will enable Parliament to hold such ministers to respond to actions and inactions of government. Haruna Iddrisu said, “If for nothing at all, I want to know the status of my leader in Parliament (Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu),” who is the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs.
To Dr Apaak, the president is “not a democrat” as it appears his “Cabinet does not exist”. He wondered why, four months into President Akufo-Addo’s tenure, Ghanaians do not know the ministers in the President’s Cabinet even though the constitution mandates the formation of a Cabinet.
“It is a constitutional mandate… Some have tried to argue that there is nowhere that the President is mandated within the context of timelines to announce his Cabinet, but similarly there is no timeline considering the prerogative to appoint ministers. But he has already done that, so why not complete the processes by letting us know… As at now there is no Cabinet. It does not exist because we have not been told,” the MP noted on Class Fm.
Despite these calls on the President to name his Cabinet, he only acknowledged the existence of Cabinet last week but again failed to make public the list.
Interacting with Ghanaians living in Guinea on measures being put in place by government to employ galamseyers, President Akufo-Addo said “60% of our water bodies in Ghana we are told have been polluted by mining activities. That is completely unacceptable. I made a decision that if God willing I was to win the election, I was going to make the fight against galamsey one of my priorities. And we are doing it… a whole Cabinet committee has been established headed by a well eminent scientist and technologist, Prof. Frimpong Boateng to recommend “alternative sources of livelihood for the people who are involved in this [galamsey] activity.”
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