The justification of the gigantic size of Akufo-Addo’s government is incomprehensibly senseless, the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia has said.
Akufo-Addo has appointed 110 ministers in total, making his government the biggest in the history of Ghana. The previous NPP government led by former President John Kufuor had 88 ministers while the Mills administration that succeeded it had 69 ministerial appointees. The Mahama administration, however, had 78 ministerial appointments.
The size of the Akufo-Addo government was met with vicious criticism. As a result, Minister of Information Mustapha Hamid Wednesday hurriedly organized a news conference to defend the government’s size.
According to him, the NPP, had never “promised a lean government” when it was in opposition, stressing that the end result is what matters when constituting a government.
“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,” he averred.
Nonetheless, Mr. Nketia believed otherwise, describing Mr. Hamid’s defense as preposterous.
“The argument that the economy is so destroyed that they need a bigger team to do the work also doesn’t make sense,” he told TV3.
The Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak described the size as shocking.
“It is just so shocking,” he told journalists after proceedings in parliament.
“For the first time in the history of the Fourth Republic, we are crossing the ninetieth mark…we are crossing the ninetieth mark. Check president Rawlings’ ministers, check president Kufuor’s ministers, check the late Atta Mills’ and John Dramani Mahama.
“This is the biggest. It is so [shameful] we even heard that a minister of state at the presidency has a deputy. This is most ridiculous. Someone who is telling the whole country to tighten up their belt…[he’s] just adding on as if it is chaskeleke,” he said.
