There is a huge public outcry in Ghana after the country’s new president, Nana Akufo Addo named 110 ministers, the biggest size of government in the West African nation’s history.
The government has defended the large numbers by announcing that the president has only appointed competent individuals to help him fix the country’s development challenges.
Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid told a news conference in Accra on Wednesday that; “Nowhere did we ever promise a lean government because in our view it is not the leanness or bigness of a government that determines its output or its ultimate performance”
Mustapha further said that, “We have had in the history of this country government that are smaller that have landed this country in bigger debts and bigger mess than governments that have had bigger ministers,”
Most of those appointed to serve in the new government are Members of Parliament, something that worries many who believe the legislature will be weakened by this move.
Civil society groups are equally unhappy with the government size. The founding president of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe, told local based Starr Fm that the appointment “doesn’t make sense.”
Mr. Cudjoe said the huge numbers will drain state funds by way of salaries. “Other African countries are doing the same and I thought we were making progress… I’m quite disappointed”
The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has also criticized the size of the government. The previous government under the former president, John Mahama had less than 90 ministerial portfolios.
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