Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, Minister of Information
President Nana Akufo-Addo is in his fifth month following his re-election into office but since assuming his second term, his government has not yet been fully formed.
There is a worrying delay in the appointment and vetting of Deputy Ministers, Boards, Chief Executive Officers and so forth, hence leaving many people to wonder if he is actually committed to fulfilling the promises he made to Ghanaians for which they voted him into power for the second time.
President Akufo-Addo’s delay in forming his government begs the question when should Ghanaians expect his government’s complete formation and how does the delay impact economic development?
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, in an exclusive interview with Peacefmonline.com, has offered a response.
According to the Minister, President Akufo-Addo hasn’t gone to sleep over his responsibilities and that, although his government setup has delayed, he is working to deliver on his promises.
He explained the delay to be as a result of some bottlenecks that characterized the inception of the President’s second-term administration.
”Unlike the 2016 election, the 2020 election started off with contestation and therefore even the whole spirit around which government was formed was a bit different in this second term. In the first term, there was very less apprehension. Parliament was very speedy in approving the President’s Ministers and therefore that also gave room for the quick approval of Deputy Ministers, formation of Boards, Chief Executive Officers etc. In this particular instance, you will notice that the kind of cooperation was a bit different from the first. Nonetheless, the President has got his Ministers in place”, he said.
He added that, in order to speed up the process despite these challenges, Parliament has vested ”residual powers in Speaker to be able to forward or ferry the President’s request to the Appointments Committee even during the recess. That hasn’t necessarily been completed and so you haven’t seen the vetting take place. But I do know that the President has a clearly penned-down list of who he wants to put in what position to deliver and as quickly that as Parliament gets the next level out of the way, he will complete the appointment of Deputy Ministers and consequently Boards and Chief Executives”.
”The process for the appointment of the Municipal and District Chief Executives is also just commencing. The President has in place the framework to assess the work of those who worked in the first term and based on that have an opportunity to make a decision on the second term. In 2017, there were no carry-over MMDCEs from his own administration per se, so that was a clean slate and therefore easier to deal with. It’s not exactly the same at this time round,” he continued.
When asked about specific timelines for the completion of the government formation, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah stated that it doesn’t lie in the hands of the Executive to give a deadline, nonetheless, he is very optimistic it will soon be done.
He explained, “Parliament will decide, for example, how long it will take. When it will complete it, when it will put before the House and all of those processes. So, it is not something for the Executive alone to give a deadline that, by this time, I would have finished. No, you’ve got to do it in consultation with the other arms of government.”
The Minister, however, acknowledged the impact of the delay on Ghana’s economic progress but reposed confidence in the President not to fail Ghanaians.
“Admittedly, it chips a bit at how much we would have wanted to do by now as an administrator but I guess, it’s not too far off the template or the expected timelines and so though you can agree that it will have chipped from how much work we would have wanted to do within this period, we can also be optimistic that, as quickly as possible, we can finish with this exercise so that full throttle, the government can deliver on its commitments,” he emphasized.