A flagbearer aspirant of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyapong, has joined the call for some ministries to be consolidated.
“A lot of the ministries have to be consolidated to reduce the numbers. There are others I think should not exist in the first place, Parliamentary Affairs, and even Chieftaincy used to be a secretariat at the Presidency”.
The former General Secretary of the NPP said this in a radio interview on Accra-based Citi FM and on Thursday, February 23, 2023.
Some groups such as OccupyGhana, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), the minority in Parliament, and governance experts have called for the reduction in the size of the government as a measure to reduce the strain on the public purse.
Adding his voice to the call, Mr Agyapong said the framers of the constitution did not put in the 19 limits for cabinet ministers for nothing, but “they were giving us an idea of the size of government.”
He said apart from being economical, consolidating and collapsing some of the ministries will send a strong moral message to Ghanaians that “leadership is indeed tightening its belt and is serious about working towards attaining economic recovery”
“Ghana’s government is too big, and I have said this a long time ago, I think it has become a bit more fashionable for other people to say. As far back as 2015 when I was General Secretary of the NPP, I said that the framers of the constitution did not put in the 19 limits for cabinet ministers for nothing, they were giving us an idea of the size of government.”, he stressed.
