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President Akufo-Addo explains rationale behind new ministries
The President has so far nominated 25 people to man various ministerial portfolios, with six out of these being new creations.
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There is now the Monitoring and Evaluation to be manned by Dr Anthony Akoto Osei; MP for Tafo Pankrono in Kumasi.
Others are Railway Development which is to be handled by Mr Joe Ghartey, MP for Esikado-Ketan in the Western Region and Regional Reorganization and Development to be managed by Mr Dan Kweku Botwe, MP for Okere in the Eastern Region.
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There is also the creation of the Senior Minister's portfolio to be handled by Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo and National Security to be handled by Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah.
Some Ghanaians have criticised the president’s creation of these new ministries, saying it will be a waste of the tax payers money.
But a press conference at the Flagstaff House Wednesday, President Akufo-Addo gave some explanations.
Railways Development
President Akufo-Addo said the Ministry will be expected to develop the railway infrastructure in the country, which would aim at growing the country’s economy by opening it up for trade.
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He said he will “do everything possible to find the money and rebuild our railway system in Ghana”.
“If we are going to be serious about the economic development of our country, we have to open it up. And it’s a railway system that is efficient to connect us to the Sahel and hopefully will one day connect us to the larger West African project that is in view,” he said.
Regional Reorganization and Development
The president said the creation of this ministry is to ensure the restructuring of the governance system in the country.
This comes on the back of party manifesto promise that it will create new regions and elect Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives.
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“We believe that the nearer a government comes to the doorsteps of our people, the more efficient and more satisfactory its outcome. That is why we are insisting on competitive politics in local government and we are going to create the conditions that will allow district chief executives, mayors, metropolitan chief executives, municipal chief executives now to be directly elected by the people they are going to govern.”
“It is by the same token, the process of devolution of power, will require that we look again at the regional structures of our country all in the aim of trying to promote rapid development in Ghana,” he explained.
He said the Minister-designate, Dan Botwe, would work to ensure the creation of four new regions from the Western, Brong Ahafo, Northern and Volta Regions respectively.
“For us to be successful I think that it is important for the more efficient governance that we are seeking for Ghana that we succeed for these efforts of creating these regions. And for me it means that the NPP, we have to find amongst ourselves a heavy hitter, a major political hitter within ourselves who has the extensive experience and capacity in mass mobilisation,” he added.
Monitoring and Evaluation
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This has been one of the ministries that have caused some sort of uproar within the public.
But President Akufo-Addo has explained that without the creation of the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, government programmes may not be delivered on time.
He said the Ministry will be in the Office of the President with the Minister having the right to talk to everybody in all the Ministries to monitor and evaluate their performance.
“The entire government machinery at all times is going to have somebody who is calling up and asking questions: ‘Why are there delays in this? Why are there delays in that?” Mr Akufo-Addo said adding that the Ministry will be “that weapon for insisting that the work of government is efficient, effective, and timeous”.
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He believed that Dr Anthony Akoto Osei is the “ideal man” for the ministry since he has extensive experience in governance and a renowned economist with a very strong understanding of budgetary processes and targets.
Sanitation and Water Resources
The president explained that he decided to split water and sanitation from the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing following what he called the neglect of that zone.
“A major challenge facing our country is access to water to our people. Indeed, ‘water for all’ is one of our slogans for our 2016 manifesto. As much as that is a challenge, equal is the challenge of our environment,” he explained.
One of the slogans for the NPP during its campaign was to provide “toilets for all” and the president believes this portfolio would focus on ensuring that the country was clean and that each household was provided with a toilet facility.
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“The structures we have for sanitation are not the best and that they require significant enhancement. We also made a slogan ‘a toilet for all’ and these are matters we take very seriously and as a result, I have decided that I need a steady hand, an experienced hand it think that it is better standing with sanitation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the president said the six new portfolios will be working under the umbrella of the Office of the President and will not be stand up ministries.
He said the new portfolios will function as part of the Office of the President but the ministries involved would have their dedicated portfolios.
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