First batch of ministers sworn in
President John Dramani Mahama has sworn in the first batch of his ministers, urging them to move away from business as usual, reduce bureaucracy and ensure efficiency in the public service.
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He reminded the ministers that the expectations of Ghanaians, who gave the National Democratic Congress (NDC) the mandate, were high.
Therefore, he told the ministers to initiate new ideas to support the government to deliver on its promises.
Performing the swearing-in ceremony at the Castle, Osu Wednesday, President Mahama again asked the ministers to see their positions as a privilege to serve Ghanaians with modesty and respect but not to lord it over the people.
The ministers are Mr Seth Terkper, Finance and Economic Planning; Ms Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Mr Clement Kofi Humado, Food and Agriculture; and Alhaji Collins Dauda, Water Resources, Works and Housing.
The rest are Alhaji A.B. Inusah Fuseini, Lands and Natural Resources; Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, Roads and Highways and Mr Mahama Ayariga, Information.
The ministers took the oaths of allegiance, secrecy and minister of state.
Thereafter, the ministers signed the oath book. After the President had also appended his signature, he presented the scrolls of office to the ministers. They were accompanied by their family members and friends.
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Present at the ceremony were Mr Prosper Douglas Kweku Bani, the Chief of Staff; Mr Roger Kwesi Angsomwine, the Secretary to the Cabinet; Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the NDC, and Mr Yaw Boateng-Gyan, the National Organiser of the NDC.
The President said it was a privilege for the ministers to serve in that capacity, since among the 24 million Ghanaian population, only 24 of them were privileged to be ministers of state.
He said he appointed them because he had confidence in their ability to support him to prosecute the government's agenda.
Therefore, he said, it was crucial for the ministers "to learn to think outside the box and not to accept the mantra of business as usual".
President Mahama asked them to cut down on the increasing bureaucracy "but within the framework of the law".
"Your watchword should be delivering the service and projects," he said.
The President charged the new appointees to exert their leadership firmly but with modesty and respect.
"We have been elected to serve, so we have to treat Ghanaians with respect and dignity," he stressed.
President Mahama underscored the need for the ministers to champion the public sector reforms by changing the attitude of public sector workers to work to facilitate the growth of the economy.
"I have confidence in your ability to deliver, and I hope that you are working to make a difference," he said.
On behalf of her colleagues, Ms Tetteh thanked President Mahama for the confidence reposed in them, and promised to take up the challenge of moving away from business as usual.
She said the ministers of state would assist the President to execute programmes to achieve the mandate of the Better Ghana Agenda initiated by the late President John Evans Atta Mills.
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Ms Tetteh said the ministers would approach their work with modesty, respect and dynamism within the next four years to accelerate the country's economy.
Story by Musah Yahaya Jafaru