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President John Dramani Mahama has sworn-in his first batch of 13 Deputy Ministers and Madam Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, Minister of State in-charge of Public Sector Reform.
The President, after administering the Oaths of Allegiance, Office and Secrecy to the inductees at the Presidency in Accra, charged them to make sacrifices to secure a prosperous future for posterity; declaring that “and you must never sacrifice a secure future for the pleasures of this fleeting moment”.
“The task of resetting and building the Ghana we want is enormous. However, experience has shown that the enormity of the challenge of governance does not demand an elephant-sized government, but rather it demands effective leadership. “And I count on you to work together with us to provide that effective leadership for the people of Ghana.
“As long as I am President, my policy will remain clear. A lean, efficient and results-driven government of which you have just become a part.” The Deputy Ministers include Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Deputy Finance Minister, Mr John Dumelo, Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr Clement Apaak, Deputy Education Minister, Mr Samson Ahi, Deputy Minister of Trade, Agribusiness and Industry, and Dr Justice Srem-Sai, Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney-General.
Others are Mr Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, Deputy Minister for the Interior; Mr Richard Gyan-Mensah, Deputy Minister of Energy and Green Transition; Mr Alhassan Suhuyini, Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways; and Mr Yusif Sulemana, Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources.
The rest are Mr Yusif Isaka Jajah, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Madam Rita Naa Odorley Sowah, Deputy Minister of Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs, Mrs Gizella Akushika Tetteh-Agbotui, Deputy Minister of Works, Housing and Water Resources and Mr Ernest Brogya Genfi, Deputy Minister of Defence.
The President said from the onset of his Administration, he gave a solemn assurance to the people of Ghana that he would fulfill his promise to create a lean, efficient, cost-effective and performance-driven government. Adding that he committed to reducing the size of government from the largest ever in the history of the country to the smallest ever, while guaranteeing that every ministry or agency critical to national progress received the necessary support to be able to fulfill its objectives.
He said with this goal in mind, he had carefully exercised discretion in appointing Deputy Ministers only for ministries with comparatively heavier workloads. The President said the nominations of Deputy Ministers to the 13 Ministries was because all the sectors played critical roles in the growth, infrastructure development and job creation in the country.
He said the highly demanding responsibilities in those ministries required additional support to ensure swift and effective implementation of the programmes and policies that the Government had set for itself. He said the ministries that could function effectively without Deputy Ministers had not been assigned any Deputy Minister, reaffirming their commitment to a lean and efficient government.
President Mahama said the swearing-in of this batch of 13 Deputy Ministers and one Minister of State brings them closer to achieving the full complement of ministers and he would submit a final list of four Deputy Ministers to achieve the full complement of 60 ministers that they promised.
He said they had also achieved the earliest approval of ministers by Parliament under the Fourth Republic, enabling them to get to work to roll out their commitment to the people of Ghana. “For this, I wish to thank Mr Speaker and the honourable members of Parliament,” he said.
He noted that the same commitment to composing a lean government had found expression in the appointments made at the Presidency so far. “So far, I have appointed 27 Presidential Staffers to various roles and three persons as Directors of important governmental initiatives, bringing the total number of political appointees so far to 30,” President Mahama said.
He reiterated that the list of 30 Presidential staffers was pending approval from the Council of State. “While we are in the process of recruiting supporting staff to enable the full functioning of our Presidency, the numbers will come nowhere near the army of people that were hired under the previous government. “Our commitment to a lean government is not merely about reducing the number of ministerial appointees or reducing the numbers at the Presidency.”
He said it was grounded in their firm belief that government must exercise fiscal discipline by ensuring that public resources were used efficiently and responsibly. He said the commitment stemmed from a deep recognition that there must be a fair balance between government expenditure and the responsibility of citizens to fund national development and state administration through payment of their taxes.
The President said public funds must go primarily into investments that benefit the Ghanaian people directly, and those who administer those funds and use it in pursuit of that objective must not be the largest beneficiary of the same. He said the full extent of their commitment to fulfilling their promises to the people had not only manifested in the way that they had curated the leanest government under the fourth Republic, but they also demonstrated the same in the policies that they were pursuing.
Madam Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, Minister of State in-charge of Public Sector Reform, on the behalf of her colleague Ministers expressed gratitude to President Mahama for the honour done them. She said, they would work hard to ensure that the President achieved his vision for resetting the nation.
Source: GNA
