Former NDC MP for Ablekuma Central, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, has criticised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for appointing 110 ministers to help him manage the economy.
The huge number of ministers, in his view, is not necessary if the President wants to deliver, stressing that what is more important is efficiency in executing the task at hand.
He described the action of the President as reckless, insisting that the appointments are jobs for party apparatchiks.
On March 15, the President announced the appointment of 54 ministers of state and deputy ministers, bringing the total number of ministers and deputy ministers to 110, and making his government the biggest in the Fourth Republic.
The previous NPP government led by President John Agyekum Kufuor had 88 ministers while the President Mills administration that succeeded it had 69 ministers.
The Mahama administration, however, had 78 ministerial appointments.
The appointments have been met with mixed reaction from the public. Whereas some believe the size does not matter but result is what is most important, others are of the view that the appointees will be a drain on state coffers.
Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid in justifying the huge number of ministerial appointees told Ghanaians at a press conference that the NPP inherited a very weak economy and therefore will need a strong army to deliver.
But Tetteh Chaie contributing to a discussion on the subject matter on TV 3’s New Day, Saturday, said the argument put forth by the Information Minister was flawed.
“You don’t need a large army to win a war. You need an army that is effective, efficient, that is competence to win the war. So it is not about the size that will make you effective or productive. That is why the ordinary man is not happy with what H. E. the President has done.”
“In his State of the Nation Address to the people of this country, he attributed the expenditure that went into rebuilding this country of ours as reckless expenditure – that is what the President said. What is more reckless than what the President has just done? You need efficient, effective and competent people to lead. It is not the numbers,” he noted.
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