Pressure is mounting on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to reduce the size of his government following a related demand by some governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) Members of Parliament (MPs) that he should dismiss the Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta and Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance Charles Adu Boahen.
The MPs called for the sacking of the two ministers of state but after a meeting with President Akufo-Addo, it was agreed that the dismissal be put on hold until the two complete some important national assignments.
They are to continue to superintend over negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and securing a deal.
The two are also to complete the preparation of the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy for 2023, which Ofori-Atta will present to parliament in the coming days.
More pressure
The pressure, which is coming from ordinary Ghanaians and financial analysts on the president to downsize the government, is said to be at an all-time high due to the current economic crisis.
One of such prominent Ghanaians is the Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. Peter Quartey.
He urged the President to reduce its appointees and use the savings to fund the 2023 budget.
“Government said it is going to pursue an austere budget…I expect a step further. I think there should be a reduction in the number of government appointees and how much is spent on them and many other areas, it would go a long way to help streamline our fiscal position,” Prof. Quartey suggested on Joy Business’ Pre-Budget Forum on Monday.
This, according to him and many others, will give signals to Ghanaians that the President is indeed serious when he said Ghana was in crisis.
According to some analysts, merely replacing Ofori-Atta and Charles Adu Boahen will not solve the country’s economic problem because the crisis is being caused by exogenous factors.
High cost of living
Due to biting cost of living, even NPP supporters believe downsizing the government at this time can tame the rising anger among the general public.
There are rumours that Mr. Ofori-Atta may decide to exit government to satisfy the MPs who made the demand to reduce tension and possible rift in the party.
However, it is not clear if the Finance Minister will voluntarily exit to ease the pressure on President Akufo-Addo.
Many Ghanaians are hopeful that the president will also heed calls to downsize government to reflect current economic difficulties.
Deputy Ministers may be affected
Government sources indicate that if President Akufo-Addo decides to downsize government, he is likely to reduce drastically the number of Deputy Ministers as a number of them are MPs and do not necessarily make much contribution to policy-making or execution.
It was also said that it was time for the President to sacrifice his loyalty to his appointees for the common good of the country.
Austerity measures
Reducing the size of government is said to be a significant part of the internal austerity measures needed in the midst of the current economic crisis.
It will be recalled that following persistent complaints about the big size of government in his first term, President Akufo-Addo abolished seven ministries in his second term and reduced the number of ministers from 126 to 80 in his second term.
The ministries included Aviation, Business Development, Inner City and Zongo Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, Planning, Regional Re-organisation and Development, and Special Development Initiatives.
President Akufo-Addo explained that the seven ministries were abolished because virtually all them were special-purpose Ministries that had achieved the purposes for which they were established.
He indicated that due to the huge problems facing the country at the time, he needed more capable hands to fix them and thus did not see his government’s size in the first term as being too big.
Merging other ministries or scrapped
There have been more suggestions that some other ministries can be merged or scrapped completely.
For example, the Ministry of Railways Development can become a department under the Transport Ministry.
Similarly, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development can become a department under Ministry of food and Agriculture.
It is also being proposed that the Ministries of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs, Sanitation and Water Resources, Parliamentary Affairs be scrapped entirely.
Others also believe that Development Authorities and some agencies can be scrapped to save resources.
Ministers appointed by Presidents in 4th Republic
The number of ministers appointed by presidents in the fourth republic is; President Jerry Rawlings-82 Ministers, John Agyekum Kufour-88 ministers, President John Evans Atta Mills-75 Ministers, President John Mahama-over 90 Ministers, President Akufo-Addo-120 ministers in the first term and that has been reduced to 80.
