Occupy Ghana Pushes For “Lean And Mean” Government

Pressure Group Occupy Ghana has called for the immediate reduction of Akufo-Addo’s elephant-sized government.

According to the group, the reduction should not be limited to the 110 ministers of the government but the President’s non-ministerial appointees as well.

It believes that this measure must be taken by the President as citizens are being forced to cut their expenditures to survive the economic hardship.

“Times are hard. Things are hard. Very hard. Every Ghanaian is feeling the pinch and pain. To survive, citizens are forced to cut back on some essential things in life. The Government, which is largely to blame for the economic mess, must also cut back and more.”

It recalled that it opposed the government’s size from the onset when it was announced, however, the government argued it was in the interest of the country.

“When in early 2017, the sheer size of the Government was revealed, we were not convinced that that was what Ghana required. In our press statement dated 17 March 2017, we criticised the President for that, stating that while ‘a government bureaucracy must be big enough to achieve the aims of the government,’ it must be ‘lean enough not to waste the resources of the state.’ We also pointed out that the ‘considerable amount of money in salaries, allowances and benefits… (in addition to enjoying a range of ex-gratia benefits when they leave office) does not sound to us like a diligent attempt to protect the public purse.’”

“In one of several responses to this criticism and others like ours, the President said to some new ministers that ‘as you know there are some who say my government is too big and there are too many of you. I am a firm believer in the adage that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.’ Another time, the President called the size of his Government a ‘necessary investment’ and assured Ghanaians that ‘it is not going to be a holiday’ for the ministers.”

Judging the performance of the big-sized government six years down the line, the Group said “they have not aged well and have been found wanting”.

It’s therefore calling for the immediate reduction of the size of the government.

“These are not normal times and ‘business as usual’ won’t cut it. The excuses for having and paying a large batch of ministers and other appointees to produce the results we see now, to the extent that they have ever been justified (which we deny), wear perilously thin in these times.

Many have demanded a reduction in the government size with a recent one being featured in the Fighter’s League’s Policy proposals for the government.

In May, Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa disclosed there is an” alarming duplication” of roles purportedly being performed at the Jubilee House.

Referencing a report on staff members at the office of the President submitted to Parliament on May 26, 2022, he said there were nine hundred and ninety-five (995) staff at the Presidency.

He said aside from the known Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, there are three others namely, Frank Adjei Twum, Awudu Moro Kabore and Ali Adams plus five deputies.

Additionally, he said the President has two (2) Communications Specialists, three (3) Communication Officers, five (5) Technical Communications Assistants, a Media Aide, an Assistant Media Liaison Officer, a Communication Consultant and a Presidential Advisor on Media who also has a technical director to the Presidential Advisor.

Ablakwa also indicated that among the staff members at the Presidency is a Church Relations Manager and a Mobiliser of the Diaspora Church.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini