{"id":56887,"date":"2014-10-16T09:22:02","date_gmt":"2014-10-16T09:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=56887"},"modified":"2014-10-16T09:22:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T09:22:02","slug":"scrap-the-ministry-of-football-camynta-baezie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2014\/10\/scrap-the-ministry-of-football-camynta-baezie\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrap the “Ministry of Football” – Camynta Baezie"},"content":{"rendered":"
His Excellency John Dramani Mahama once again showed his commitment to reducing waste by scrapping the Ministry of Information and Media Relations. This has led to the reduction of the Sector Ministries from 24 to 23 with the subsequent reduction in running costs.<\/p>\n
Taking a cue from the President\u2019s thinking, I suggest a further look at the functions and performances of the current Ministries for further merges and\/or realignments. This is because the Ministries are still too many and the effectiveness and performance for which some were separated have not been realized. The number of Ministries may also be in contravention of Article 76(1) of the 1992 Constitution, which states that \u201cThere shall be a cabinet which shall consist of the President, the Vice-President and not less than ten and not more than nineteen Ministers of State<\/b>\u201d, although it may be argued that not all the Ministers have Cabinet status.<\/p>\n
There are also overlaps of responsibilities that either creates confusion or no ownership of execution. For example there is a general disconnect between the Department of Urban Roads under the Ministry of Roads and Highways and the Hydrological Service Department under the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. Urban Roads have in many instances constructed drains that have been found to have inadequate capacity to contain the volumes of water run offs, necessitating the redesign and reconstruction of the same drains at additional cost. Similar examples abound as a result of the numerous Ministries.<\/p>\n
The existing Ministries are as follows:<\/p>\n
Each of the above 23 Ministries has a substantive Minister and a Deputy Minister or two. The number of Deputy Ministers is 34 bringing the total number of Sector Ministers to 57. There are 5 Ministers of State at the Presidency and 20 Regional Ministers, including their Deputies. This brings the overall number of Ministers to 82.<\/p>\n
In order that the President can take his laudable idea forward and ensure waste is cut down considerably, I suggest the following:<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the current practice of two Deputy Ministers for some Ministries should be scrapped. For example at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning where the Minister has a Finance background, the Deputy should be an Economist and vice versa with no need for a second Deputy. The Technical Directors for the various Departments should support the Ministers.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Regional Ministers should have no Deputies because each Region has Districts, manned by Chief Executives who are the real implementers of projects and programmes at the local level. Each Region also has a Coordinating Director to provide administrative support. Moreover, the Chief Executives of the Districts should be persons with business and managerial experience as the name depicts to be able to implement and manage projects and programmes at the District level. Each Chief Executive should have the ability to deputize for the Regional Ministers. This will make the decentralization policy meaningful and practical.<\/p>\n
These measures will mean 14 Ministries instead of the current 23 and hence 28 Ministers including Deputies and 10 Regional Ministers. Assuming the Ministers of State at Presidency remain at 5, we will have 43 Ministers instead of the current 82. The difference of 39 Ministers would translate into saving of the equivalent of 39 V8 Landcruisers, 39 saloon cars and their running and maintenance costs. Additional savings include Ministerial salaries, housing, end of service benefits (ex gratia) and other office related benefits in kind.<\/p>\n
Using the current cost of a Landcruiser at about GHC300,000 and a saloon car (typically a Toyota Camry) at about GHC120,000, the total saving in vehicular cost alone would be Sixteen Million, Three Hundred and Eighty Thousand Ghana Cedis<\/b> (GHC16,380,000)<\/b> (i.e. (300,000+120,000)x39). This figure excludes the running and maintenance cost of the vehicles.<\/p>\n
Assuming Ministers currently receive about GHC7,000, this would mean additional savings of about GHC3,276,000<\/b> a year.<\/p>\n
The argument would be where to send the personnel of the defunct Ministries. The existing Ministers and Deputies may be assigned Board roles, Chief Executive positions or other commensurate responsibilities. The public servants would continue their technical roles as Departments and Agencies under their realigned Ministries or institutions.<\/p>\n
This article is not a prescription but meant to generate debate on the size of our governments to ensure we eliminate waste and focus on the bare essentials.<\/p>\n
My proposed Ministries therefore are the following:<\/p>\n
Small, they say, is beautiful. The slimming of the Ministries from 23 to 14 will ensure that limited quality human resources and limited budgetary allocations are concentrated in these key Ministries for efficient and effective resource utilization for maximum impact.<\/p>\n
This would be keeping in line with the popular American axiom: \u201cKeep it simple s**\u201d (KISS).<\/p>\n
God enrich our homeland Ghana.<\/p>\n
By: Camynta Baezie, PhD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His Excellency John Dramani Mahama once again showed his commitment to reducing waste by scrapping the Ministry of Information and Media Relations. This has led to the reduction of the Sector Ministries from 24 to 23 with the subsequent reduction in running costs. Taking a cue from the President\u2019s thinking, I suggest a further look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":56894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[8],"yoast_head":"\n