Former Minister of Lands and Natural Resources and Member of Parliament (MP) for Damango, Samuel Abu Jinapor, has raised concerns over the growing size of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, noting that it is misleading to only consider the number of cabinet ministers and deputies when evaluating government size.

He was responding to the Education Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, during a debate on the President’s message on the State of the Nation.

The Education Minister had praised President John Dramani Mahama for setting a new benchmark in government efficiency by reducing the number of ministers in his second term.

Mr. Iddrisu argued that the size of the government should be capped to ensure fiscal responsibility and effective governance, noting that under the Fourth Republic, Ghana has seen fluctuating numbers of ministers, with past administrations having up to 110 ministers, followed by 93 and 88.

He noted that President Mahama’s government, in a significant move, governed with only 60 ministers – the smallest size of government ever in the Fourth Republic.

However, in a sharp rebuttal, the NPP MP for Damango said the true scale of the current government and its impact on national resources requires a more comprehensive evaluation, stressing the need to account for both ministers and the often-overlooked presidential staffers when measuring the scope of the administration.

Mr. Jinapor emphasised the significant number of presidential advisers and staffers, which he believes should be factored into any analysis of government size.

The MP pointed out that the Chief of Staff and senior presidential advisers, along with various presidential staff, rank just below the Speaker of Parliament but above cabinet ministers in terms of their influence and responsibilities.

He noted that while cabinet ministers are subjected to parliamentary vetting and scrutiny, presidential advisers and staffers are not, making their appointment less transparent.

“In evaluating government size, we should not just focus on ministers and deputy ministers but also on the numerous senior presidential advisers and staffers appointed by the president,” Mr. Jinapor said.

“These positions, while not always in the public eye, have a significant impact on government operations, yet they remain outside the purview of parliamentary oversight,” he stressed.

The Damango MP argued that presidents can appoint hundreds of senior advisers, staffers, and specialists, which effectively increases the government’s machinery without requiring parliamentary approval.

He noted that this system, in which staffers are not held accountable to Parliament, creates a gap in transparency.

He indicated that the lack of scrutiny over presidential appointees and the financial burden these positions may place on the national budget.

He pointed out that, despite the numbers, the impact on national expenditure is not necessarily reduced by having a smaller group of ministers like 60, as the number of presidential advisers continues to rise.

Mr. Jinapor called for a more nuanced understanding of government size and urged a closer look at both cabinet ministers and the often-overlooked presidential staffers in any future evaluations of government efficiency and accountability.

By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House

Kwesi Pratt Jnr is the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper

Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, has lauded Gifty Oware-Mensah, former Deputy Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), for returning to the country to face law enforcement agencies over allegations levelled against her in connection with the NSS ghost names saga.

He condemned the assertion by a section of the public that she should have been arrested at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) terminal on arrival on March 4, 2025.

In his estimation, an arrest would be utterly unnecessary since she has availed herself for questioning, following calls for investigations regarding the ghost names saga during her tenure in office.

“A number of allegations have been levelled against her. She voluntarily come back to the country. Why would you arrest her at the terminal?

“She has not been found guilty in any court or even been charged. So, at this stage I expect that you respect her full rights,” Pratt said on Metro TV on March 5, 2025.

He indicated that if there were any pieces of evidence or questions against her, she should be respectfully invited for questioning.

“In fact, the reports from various media outlets suggested that she had absconded from justice, but her return shows her confidence. She appears to be confident that nothing will be found against her. I think she should avail herself to law enforcement agencies for all the opportunities she can get to clear her name,” he said.

Recently, The Fourth Estate, a project of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) released a document that alleged that the government had uncovered a significant discrepancy in the National Service payroll, revealing 81,885 suspected ghost names.

This figure represents the difference between the actual number of active personnel and the payroll data submitted by the previous management of the National Service Authority (NSA).

VPO/AE

Meanwhile, watch this Ghana Month special edition of People and Places as we hear the story of how the head of Kwame Nkrumah’s bronze statue was returned after 43 years, below:

Kwame Agbodza recently visited the Tema-Aflao construction site and he could be heard telling BHM company that he’s unhappy with the work they have done there.

“In his Words”

“We can all agree that the project is terminated, you still have possession of the site and the scope of your project is that, in the middle of the existing carriage way, you are supposed to build interchanges. So you actually disturbed an existing alignment that was perfectly fine. You necessarily had to do that but you left the adjacent spaces around what you did in some places in a very terrible

state. Indeed you have gone ahead to remedy part of them which have failed. It beats my mind wether BHM is incapable of basically fixing this as a temporary measure. I will not lie to you, we don’t just like that, you can not say that a company of your reputation could not do this”.

“What kind of procurement process do you need to just fix this little things. For three weeks nothing has been done, how are we supposed to believe that it’s because you haven’t been paid, because if we go into your books now, you are still holding part of our money, you haven’t actually exhausted everything you spent. So I’m not going to mix words here, I’m very unhappy because I was

expecting you to make the work moderable but you haven’t. You gave us assurance that you will fix the road within a week or two and it’s 3 weeks now. So, tell us if you are going to do it or not, we are not broke beyond getting a Ghanaian company, just tell us if you will do it or not because our people are struggling”, Kwame Agbodza said.

TV3 Ghana shared the video on their official instagram page today being Wednesday the 5th day of March, 2025 and it stirred massive reactions from the general public. Click on the link below to watch the video.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DG0ccXtqrKK/?igsh=MXdjMW8zcm56bnlrZQ==