Scrap ex-gratia, reduce ministers and cancel vanity projects – Okudzeto Ablakwa to govt

Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has called on government to ‘cancel vanity projects’ and scrap the payment of ex-gratia to help salvage the country’s ailing economy.

According to him, there is a need for government to also reduce the number of ministers and appointees at the Presidency.

These measures, in his view, have become necessary due to the current agitations on the labour front and the country’s ongoing engagements with the IMF for a bailout.

“Cancel vanity projects such as the proposed new €116 million new Accra International Conference Centre project, 5 STEM universities, Boankra Green Technology City, Marine Drive Project, Stadia for Abuakwa and Sunyani, Agenda 111, new embassies in Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico.

“Drastically reduce the number of Ministers, abolish Deputy CEO positions, dismiss the CEO for the ridiculous non-existent Keta Port and slash the outrageous 337 political appointees at the Office of the President by more than half,” Mr Ablakwa wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

He believes it will also be crucial to look at “an immediate review of Ghana’s end-of-service benefits regime and scrap all ex-gratia payments for political and non-political beneficiaries.”

In his post, the North Tongu MP also proposed other measures which he believes will help put the country’s economy on a better footing.

Below is his Facebook post: