Dr Eric Oduro Osae, Dean of Graduate Studies at the Institute of Local Government Studies, has called for a law that will put a limit on the number of appointments made by presidents to avoid a bloated government, which increases pressure on the public purse.

His comment comes as some groups and individuals have raised concerns over the large number of appointments made by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Dr Osae, speaking on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Wednesday 15 March, noted that an amendment to the law would put a cap on the number of appointments made by the president so that the Ghanaian tax payer’s money is efficiently utilised.

“I want to see efficiency and effectiveness in national level administration. I want to see a situation where the objectives of various ministries are attained irrespective of the numbers. I want to see a ministry where we have cost benefit analysis to the appointment of public offices so the benefit outweighs the cost. And I think that we also have to do something to our laws if we really want to keep a lean government, because if you have Article 79 (1) giving the government of the day the opportunity to appoint one or more deputy ministers, in that case, irrespective of the promises they have made, if they come to power and see that the mandate of the various ministries requires that they appoint more people there and that they will achieve value for money and that efficiency, effectiveness, and economy will outweigh any other thing, then I think they will just do that,” he told show host Moro Awudu.

“What I think we need in any case as Ghanaians is that the various ministries should be able to deliver on their mandate. The government of the day should be able to bring development to Ghana so that at the end of the day the tax payer’s money will not be wasted.”

On his part, former Attorney General Nii Ayikoi Otoo said given that there is no cap on the number of ministers the president can make, Mr Akufo-Addo is free to appoint as many people as he wants to effectively run his government.

Source: ClassFMonline.com