It has been said that little boys are seen and not heard so it is not surprising to find fewer people reading this because it emanates from the pen of an undergraduate student who just voted for the first time. Be that as it may, there are those with grey hairs who get everyone to keep mute and listen. One of such persons is Professor Addae. Everyone took notice when he criticized President Mahama for appointing too many people from Northern Ghana and people have not failed to recognize his description of President Akufo Addo’s appointees as “a most excellent cabinet.” I have also taken notice and would therefore like to focus on these two issues which are representation and competence. Ultimately, I would analyze the essence of the creation of the new ministries.
Primarily, the idea of democracy is inextricably related to the idea of representation. This is due to the fact that in a system of government where the people are sovereign, it is expected that diverse groups in the country are given their fair share. In light of this, how the president’s appointments are made vis-à-vis the respective populations of the various ethnic groups is quite significant. According to the CIA World Factbook, there are four main ethnic groups in Ghana; the Akans that constitute about 47.5% of the population, the Mole-Dagbanis who make up 16.6%, the Ewes who comprise 13.9% and the Ga-Adangbes that add up to 7.4%. Of course, there are the Grusis (2.5%) and the Mandes (1.1%) but for the purposes of this article, I would add these to the Mole-Dagbanis since per my research they all belong to the Kingdom of Dagbon. That brings the Dagbon tally to 20.2% of the population. The question that remains now is how this relates to the appointments that were made recently.
It must be noted first and foremost that there are 36 men and women who have been appointed to take up certain ministerial roles. Out of these, 24 are Akans, 7 are from Dagbon, 2 are Ewes and 3 are Ga Adangbes. This results in 66.7%, 19.4%, 5.3% and 8.3% respectively. This shows clearly that the Akans have been overrepresented, the Ewes underrepresented, while the people of Dagbon and the Ga-Adangbes have been well-represented. This ostensibly adds to the narrative that the New Patriotic Party is somewhat bias when it comes to tribal matters. Nonetheless, a closer look reveals that the opposite is true. Essentially, people who might make this claim gloss over a salient point.
The 1992 Constitution of Ghana specifically in Article 78 states emphatically that “majority of ministers shall be appointed from among members of parliament.” This definitely means that since about 67% of NPP members of parliament are Akans, it is no surprise that about the same percentage of ministers would come from that particular ethnic group. Similarly, because there is only 1 Ewe MP from the NPP it is no wonder we have the present situation. The problem stems from the Constitution itself. Even if a strict separation is not sought, there must at least be some leeway given to the President in terms of making such appointments. They must not necessarily come from parliament since the double job can in one way or the other hamper effectiveness. That brings me to the issue of competence.
It is widely known that both President Akufo Addo and Vice President Bawumia have impressive CVs. The former is recognized even by his opponents as a distinguished lawyer while the latter is acknowledged by many as a brilliant economist. Indeed, both of them have had some sought of education from Oxford University. But what about those they have surrounded themselves with? After all, most of our past presidents and vice presidents have proven themselves very qualified at least on paper. Let’s just focus on seven of these ministers-designate.
It’s only fitting that we start with the position of senior minister. Yaw Osafo Marfo who was once the minister of finance and economic planning was not only adjudged the Best Finance Minister in Africa by Banker Magazine (Kwabena Dufour was also a recipient of this award) but also the Best Finance Minister in the World by the World Economic Forum. So what about his current successor? Ken Ofori Atta, the former CEO of Databank received a BA from Columbia and an MA from Yale. One of his achievements is being listed as part of the top 5 most respected CEOs in Ghana by Price Water House Ghana. He will be assisted in the Economic Management team by Dr. Paul Acquah who not only went to Yale and the University of Pennsylvania but also worked with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and eventually became the Governor of the Bank of Ghana who was in charge of the redenomination of the cedi. Nevertheless, we can expect no less from those who manage our economy. After all, the fact that Seth Terkper went to Harvard University shows that the economy of Ghana is usually put in the hands of graduates of Ivy League Schools.
Another person who is part of the economic management team is Dr. Akoto Osei who is the minister-designate for Monitoring and Evaluation. Besides the fact that he was a Professor of Economics at Howard University, he was a Consultant to the World Bank. The same can be said about Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto who consulted for the World Bank regarding soft commodities such as cocoa coffee and Sugar. Having received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Cambridge, it is no surprise that he has been appointed to man the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Another person of high repute is Professor Gyan Baffour who after receiving a post graduate diploma from Harvard, attained a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. Subsequently, he became the Director General of the National Development Planning Commission so it seems that he is the best man for the Ministry of Planning job.
Interestingly, the first minister to be named was Alan Kyeremanteng who is the only one in the new administration to assume his former role. With his past experience as the Minister for Trade and Industry coupled with the fact that he was once named as part of the top 100 leaders in the world for the new millennium, there are high expectations for him to make impact concerning the “one district, one factory” campaign promise. After all, the African Union Heads of State endorsed his bid for the position of Director General at the World Trade Organization.
Last but certainly not the least is Professor Frimpong Boateng who besides being the first black to perform a heart transplant, has been named by the Ghana Chartered Institute of Marketing as the Marketing Man of the Year. His most significant honour, however, was the Personality of the Decade Award which was given to him by the Millennium Excellence Foundation. According to our president, we should expect “a radical transformation” coming from the Ministry of Environment Science and Technology. From the above, one cannot disagree with Professor Addae’s “most excellent cabinet” label. On paper, the future looks bright, but for now, it’s just on paper.
Finally, there has been a lot of discussion concerning the creation of some new ministries. First of all, the idea against “big government” is the issue of overspending and once there are additional ministers, there are additional salaries. Some have made the argument that this is in line with creating more jobs but that assertion is quite problematic since the president himself stated unambiguously that six of the newly created ministries report directly to the office of the president. In essence, one should not expect the creation of many jobs at the ministries. It is well known that the NPP ideology focuses more on the private sector but if you think Akufo-Addo is less of a fan of the private sector than Kufour, then think again! The current president unlike his boss does not have a Minister for Public Sector Reform.
Another pertinent issue for me concerns the creation of the Ministry for Regional Reorganization and Development. What happens to that ministry after the new regions have been created by the end of June 2018 as President Akufo Addo stated? Will it be dissolved or restructured to serve a different purpose? Having said that, I must say unequivocally that the creation of the new ministries comes with its advantages. First, it ensures that there is effectiveness in tackling specific problems. This was the rationale behind the creation of the Ministry of Fisheries under President Kufour and the Power Ministry under President Mahama. Moreover, this will help us hold the government accountable to some of their promises concerning certain policies. For example, the members of the Zongo Community can hold the government accountable in a more direct way since there is now an Inner Cities and Zongo Development Ministry. Furthermore, the vow of creating a railway system from Accra to Paga would be looked at very closely since there is now a Ministry for Railway Development.
Ultimately, concerning the aforementioned issues of representation and competence, one may ask whether besides all these, the NPP is ready for the job. As my father once told me, “If a blind man threatens to throw a stone at you, you must watch out because his foot might already be on the stone.” Be that as it may, only time will tell. As Mahama said in his last speech, posterity will be the judge. The people of Ghana have expressed immense confidence in the new administration and if the election results are anything to go by, then the NPP cannot disappoint because Ghanaians will not tolerate any excuses.