Despite assembling an unprecedented team of ministers and deputies, one thing is clear, the new Akufo-Addo government is determined to maintain the sharp divisions within the ruling party. He has ignored many party folk, who are tried and tested in many respects purely because their loyalties lie elsewhere. By the current appointments, many known Kufuor/Alan persons, prominent in the last parliament and this one, have become casualties, regardless of their competences and institutional knowledge.
Those who made it to the Akufo-Addo cabinet, can be likened to your Ghanaian in a ‘Kunfu fight’. We are not used to any other fight apart from boxing. Even there, our exploits have failed to yield major titles in recent times. Therefore, even though Alan himself was drafted into the government, he’s a lone voice and cannot trump anyone in the government to get anything done his way. A closer look at cabinet will show the heavy Akyem-Akan presence that is more loyal to the leader than the party or nation.
Many known Kufuor loyalists, who are very capable were either snubbed or given an ‘orphan’s treat’. New and mundane ministries became their portion, were either demoted or repeated as deputy ministers, eight clear years on.
It started with overlooking the most capable person to do the finance job, for a blood relation. Ken Ofori-Atta’s years of experience and achievements in the country’s financial sector are indisputable but the reality is that he is learning on the job. That certainly would not have been the case, if the sharp-brained Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei had been handed the job.
Dr. Osei is not just the immediate past ranking Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, but has also become an institution when it comes to issues of financial and economics in the country. Many of the recent deals were passed under his watch and could double up on them to ensure the new government is up and running. But those decisions purely rest with William Akufo-Addo, the Fifth President of Ghana’s Fourth Republic.
Secondly, Abubakar Sadique Boniface, Patricia Appiagyei, Patrick Yaw Boamah, Osei Bonsu Amoah, have all been given jobs, but their roles are purely add ons. OB Amoah, a Deputy Sports Minister in the Kufuor regime remains a deputy minister, despite rising to the chairmanship of Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament, you know it’s an uncomfortable fit. Patricia Appiagyei is one of the few women who went through the mill. She graduated from Mayor to deputy regional minister, then later regional minister. Having won a second term parliamentary bid, that’s when she begins as a deputy minister? Again, it is pathetic that Alhaji Boniface is expected to leave Zongos the way they are but attempt to make life worth living for their inhabitants.
Many Zongos are in prime areas of our cities, but are heavily disorganized. Therefore any attempt to improve them must also look at land use. Anyone familiar with New York’s Tracy Towers will know that any such move will make large tracts of land available for investors in prime areas of all our cities. But there’s no evidence that this government is moving along those lines. If the affable Minister had the resources and is minded to improve the Zongos, in eight years, this country could boast of real transformation.
Again, in the Finance sector, one individual who showed great mettle in the running of government finances, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah was overlooked, although the ministry was graciously showered with three deputy ministers. Dr. Assibey-Yeboah was often and widely mistaken to be the Deputy Ranking Member of the Finance Committee due to his articulation on issues relating to finance and the economy generally. In the lead up to the sale of the Agriculture Development Bank, he proceeded to court to prevent the board from going ahead with the Initial Public Offer. The actual deputy, Yanwube, was and is still not known to many parliamentary reporters. Was his case a pure case or overlooking?
Dr. Richard Winfred Anane of Nhyeaeso, one of the premiere NPP Members of the House, who lost his primaries in the machinations ahead of the party’s primaries, a two-time Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee lost out in the ministerial appointments. Dr. Anane combines practical expertise with years of institutional knowledge in the country’s health sector. He seems to have complete grasp over the nation’s health sector, failed to show in the President’s team for reasons he alone can provide. I am by no means saying Kwaku Agyeman-Manu isn’t capable, but any observer of our political space knows his forte.
Immediate past MP for Kwesimintsim, Joe Baidoe-Ansah, an MP since 2001, was a target, who was destined not to be in the seventh parliament by the powers that be. His opponent, Joe Mensah, allegedly forged documents to enable him contest the then incumbent. He was disqualified at the constituency, regional and National level. But the powers that be urged him to go to court. The court overturned the ruling, despite Ayikoi Otoo, a member of the Committee that disqualified him, showing up in court and testifying in favour of the party’s position. The court ruled that the primaries be held and the incumbent lost narrowly to the current MP. Until his defeat, he was only second to Papa Owusu-Ankomah as the longest serving lawmaker from the Western region. It is still unclear whether the President has penciled him for any position in his government.
Frederick Opare-Ansah, a Telecommunications Engineer, who rose to the Chief Whip’s position on his side was not just ignored in the ministerial appointments, his seat at the ECOWAS parliament was almost snatched from him until Alex Afenyo Markin relinquished the seat offered him to the former, to save Ghana international embarrassment. His longtime rival has found favour with the President and has been nominated for a deputy ministerial job.
Any observer of the fifth Parliament of the current Republic will know Seth Kwame Acheampong, MP for Mpraeso. He’s tactful and says very little but quite a deep guy. He also didn’t make it to the elephant-sized parade of ministers, needed for the so-called ambitious project of the Nana Addo government. Acheampong, Opare-Ansah and Ben Ayeh lost their positions in leadership of the party under interesting circumstances. The first two remain in parliament, while Ben Ayeh, a defeated parliamentary candidate in the last NPP primaries, soldiers on as a party communication officer on local radio. It is unclear whether the President will reward his efforts.
Francis Addai-Nimo, the immediate past Mampong lawmaker who also contested Nana Addo in the last party primaries, is left in the cold. He also lost the parliamentary primary but remained resolute in the party through the elections.
Kwadwo Mpiani, Paul Afoko, Kwabena Agyapong, Nana Ohene-Ntow, Frank Agyekum, Yaw Buabeng-Asamoah, Andrew Awuni, Moktar Bamba and Stephen Asamoah-Boateng are known Kufuor loyalists, who remain out of government for now. It is unclear whether the appointing authority has anything for them.
But given the role John Agyekum Kufuor played in the last campaign, the President must use this providence of God that got him elected when many were sceptical of his chances, to unite the elephant family. Nana Addo seems to listen to some unseen individuals, who only deny happenings but lay claim to nothing. I’m not one of those bothered by the number of Akyems or Ashantis in his government and whether or not he found anyone from Bawku suitable to be in his cabinet.
All I’m asking is for Nana Addo to unite the front of the NPP and ensure that his party’s future is secured in subsequent elections, whether he runs or not. Leaving the status quo can have disastrous consequences for the future of centre-right politics in Ghana.