The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has expressed confidence in the president-elect, John Dramani Mahama’s commitment to keeping the number of ministers at sixty.

This promise was made by Mahama during his campaign, with the aim of safeguarding public funds.

At the NDC’s manifesto launch in the Central Region on August 24, Mahama had vowed to eliminate ex-gratia payments and reduce wasteful spending in government if elected.

Speaking to the press on Monday, December 16, ahead of Parliament’s first sitting after the general election, Iddrisu reaffirmed that President-elect, John Mahama would stick to this pledge.

“A true meaning of the public purse would be to downsize the government. He intends to run a government with sixty ministers. That’s very, very doable. I foresee him running a government with 23 ministers, some 19 cabinet ministers, and some 16 regional ministers. This adds up to a total of 54-58 Ministers,” he explained.

Mr. Iddrisu further elaborated on the rationale behind this commitment, emphasizing that for Mahama, it’s about protecting the public purse and conserving public resources, which would otherwise be spent on ministers’ salaries, facilities, and privileges.