Mahama not under pressure to fill Defence Minister role– Kotoko

Deputy CEO of the Forestry Commission, Elikem Kotoko, has stated that President John Dramani Mahama is not under pressure to appoint a new Minister for Defence following the tragic death of Dr. Omane Boamah in August 2025.

Speaking on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Monday, October 13, Mr. Kotoko praised the President’s calm and measured leadership, stating that the current Deputy Minister and Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson are managing the ministry effectively.

 “President Mahama is not under any pressure to even appoint a substantive minister as we speak. Leadership is what President Mahama is showing. There’s a substantive Deputy Minister, I hope you are aware, who can play a lot of roles and report to the caretaker minister [Ato Forson]. My own colleague, Brogya Genfi.”

Mr. Kotoko also defended the size of President Mahama’s current cabinet, contrasting it with the larger one under former President Akufo-Addo, and stressed that Mahama’s focus remains on stability and prudent governance rather than yielding to public pressure.

“President Mahama has, for the longest time, been functioning with 56 ministers. In the success of the 7 months or so that he was in office, he was operating with 56, and if now he’s doing with 58 ministers, it’s only to tell you that at the time you were appointing 125 ministers who could not handle this economy, it was an avenue to dissipate the public purse,” he said.