Ghana’s president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced a ministerial reshuffle, the first since appointments were made in March 2017.
Reports in local press indicate that talk of downsizing the appointments referred to as ‘elephant-sized’ did not materialize as the president kept 110 ministerial slots filled.
Major cabinet positions largely remained unchanged like the Attorney General and Minister for Justice and Finance Minister. The president replaced a dismissed Energy Minister with the former Lands and Water Resources minister
The reference to an ‘elephant-sized’ team was in relation to the record number of appointees – the highest under the 1992 consitution, but also a veiled political mockery by opponents because the ruling New Patriotic Party’s official emblem is an elephant.
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Back in March, the government defended itself against the accusation of a record number of appointments, Minority leader in parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, came out guns blazing saying that the cabinet will feed on the public purse.
But in response, then information minister Mustapha Hamid told reporters,” we never promised a lean government.” Adding that the size of the government was necessary to assist the president’s ambitious development agenda.