Minister of State in Charge of Government Communications and Member of Parliament for Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has strongly dismissed claims that the presidency has allocated $15 million for research.
Speaking on State of Affairs with Joshua Kodjo Mensah, he described such assertions as misleading and a result of a lack of understanding of the budget.
According to Hon. Kwakye Ofosu, the budget line in question, found on page 139 of the 2025 Budget Statement, falls under National Security and not the presidency.
He explained that the Research Department, which has been allocated $15 million for goods and services and $20 million for capital expenditure, is actually Ghana’s external intelligence agency.
“The Research Department is our external intelligence agency. Their domestic counterparts are the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB). Yet, there are people in this country who see ‘Research Department’ and assume it is money for research at the presidency,” he said.
He further criticized members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), including Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah, for misrepresenting the budget allocation, stating that they should know better given their previous government experience.
Hon. Kwakye Ofosu also highlighted that during the NPP administration, a research unit was indeed established at the presidency, headed by the late Victor Newman and later by a professor from the University of Ghana. However, he insisted that the current government has no such unit at the presidency.
On the topic of presidential staff, he compared the current administration’s 30 presidential appointees to the 336 under the NPP, arguing that salary expenses have significantly reduced as a result.
“If you have 336 appointees and another administration reduces them to 30, then obviously the amount of money spent on salaries will reduce,” he stated.
Hon. Kwakye Ofosu urged Ghanaians to critically examine the budget and the Securities and Intelligence Agencies Act, which clearly outlines the role of the Research Department under national security.
He emphasized that while the office of the presidency handles budgetary allocations for national security, oversight responsibilities have been assigned to the Minister for the Interior, Alhaji Mohammed Bui.
