The Minister for Information has shot down arguments that President Akufo-Addo\u2019s huge government size will take a toll on the nation\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026If you need more hands to ensure that we are protecting bigger money, you might do so because it\u2019s better,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n
His comment comes after the backlash against the President for appointing 54 more substantive and deputy ministers on Wednesday, bringing the total number to 110.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”vXP0JulGhZ3O9odPWgUmpHsQerMmJkLp”]Critics of the government including the opposition National Democratic Congress and the People\u2019s National Convention, have argued that it is sheer waste of resources especially when the government says the country is almost broke.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>, Mustapha Hamid stressed the end result is what matters.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all agree that we ought to find ways of protecting the public purse and everybody agrees that in Africa the biggest problem that we face as a continent is not because we don\u2019t have resources, often times it\u2019s because of corruption. We lose a lot of money to corruption.\u00a0And we all agree again that the biggest spot of our loss of money is through dubious procurement practices.”<\/p>\n Mr. Hamid further explained that, due to the absence of a Procurement Minister in previous times, there were a number of ministers of state who force the Procurement Authority into acceding to their demands hence causing the nation to “lose billions of cedis in contracts.”<\/p>\n He also defended the new deputy ministerial appointments to the Attorney General’s department.<\/p>\n “If you have two ministers at the Attorney General\u2019s department who would sign off monies like we signed for people like Woyome, versus having three ministers who would have a better scrutiny. Look at all the 43 power purchase agreements that we have said that we are having to review. So if you need more hands to ensure that we are protecting bigger money, you might do because it\u2019s better,\u201d the minister added.<\/p>\n Justification for 110 ministers \u2018senseless\u2019 \u2013 Asiedu Nketia<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, has described as\u00a0senseless<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0the justification of President Akufo-Addo\u2019s 110 ministerial appointments.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026The argument that the economy is so destroyed that they need a bigger team to do work also doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n