Financial analyst and anti-corruption crusader, Sydney Casely-Hayford, has argued for the total removal of the regional minister role, claiming their functions have become obsolete.
He made these remarks while commenting on the recent presidential reshuffle which saw new ministers assigned to the Ashanti, Central and Northern Regions, among others.
[contextly_sidebar id=”BnpMuaqQmdsL6QjMUkklrgCjATgsbK9p”]”When you read all the various changes and things that you have done, the biggest changes that have come up are the ones to do with regional ministers and deputy regional minsters,” he noted on Citi FM‘s news analysis programme, The Big Issue.
“What do regional ministers do in this country apart from ceremonial things…? There is no need to have a regional minister, They don’t do anything.” Mr Casely-Hayford claimed.
He went on to highlight what he believes are problems with the administration of regions and constituencies in Ghana, citing a disconnect between the running of the two.
“We have a peculiar problem in this country,” he stated. “The regional administrations are very different from your constituency administration unit.”
“So you have certain places that are not represented under the district administration because we have this ridiculous thing where you have 275 people in parliament and then you have about 230 odd people who are supposed to be administrative representatives.”
According to him, the solution to this problem will be to have all the District Chief Executives (DCEs) in one region coming together to elect one person to represent them.
“The way to solve this problem is to have the equal number of districts represented up to your municipality or up to your metropolitan assembly, he explained”
“Out of all your district chief executives, they need to come together and elect one person…”
Still commenting on the presidential reshuffle, the anti-corruption campaigner said the president owed it to citizens to give his reasons for moving minsters around.
“I say, despite the fact that the president has the constitutional mandate to hire and fire at will, the president owes us the obligation to tell us why he is changing people and moving them around.”
Mr Casely-Hayford intimated that common sense should guide the president to explain his reasons despite the constitution not requiring him to do so.
“You might have a written down constitution. It doesn’t mean that your common sense shouldn’t tell you that it will good governance if I let the people know why I am doing what I am doing.”
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana