New ministers face high expectations - 18 Out

Four senior governance experts and political scientists have described the ministerial reshuffle as uniquely interesting, emphasising the fact that it is the first real change under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Dr John Osae-Kwapong, Mary Addah, Professor Seidu Alidu and Dr Kojo Pumpuni Asante, however, wondered “why now” and “what possible difference it will make” after the President appeared to have succumbed to pressure to remove the Minister of Finance of seven years, Ken Ofori-Atta, and make sweeping changes across the wide space of ministerial portfolios.

The resource persons spoke to Daily Graphic correspondents Albert Salia, Samuel Duodu and Mary Anane-Amponsah.

“The President has finally reshuffled his government.

It goes without saying that one name will dominate the public discourse — Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who has come under intense public criticism and faced calls from members of his own party in Parliament to either resign or be fired during the famous ‘Ken Must Go’ saga,” Dr Osae-Kwapong, a Democracy and Governance Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), told the Daily Graphic.

He said a ministerial reshuffle, in principle, “is a good administrative practice” that allowed for periodic assessment of team members to make changes where necessary either by retaining, reassigning or bringing on new team members.

“There are two central questions emerging from this reshuffle: Why now? and What difference will it make?” he said.

“Whatever the motivation in terms of the timing, it is a bit odd to see a major reshuffle with only about 11 months left in office.

 Politically, if this had been done a year or two ago, it may have allowed the administration to win back some of the good graces it once enjoyed at a high level from Ghanaians,” he added.

As to what difference it could make, Dr Osae-Kwapong stated: “I do not anticipate any major policy decisions being undertaken by this government in the remaining months left in office.

 Coupled with the timing, I believe on substantive matters of governance, this reshuffle will make no difference.

“The various appointees will essentially be guiding the ship to a safe berth on January 7, 2025, before a new administration takes over, whether it is a Bawumia or John Mahama administration,” he said.

Reshuffle belated

Mrs Addah, who is the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), described the reshuffle as a ‘big’ one, but indicated that it was coming a bit late when the government had only about 10 months to end its tenure.

That could have come a bit earlier particularly at the time when the civil society organisations were calling for some ministers, especially those of the Health and Finance portfolios to be relieved of their posts to enable the government to perform its duties well during the COVID-19 period, she pointed out.

Mrs Addah, however, stated that the reshuffle was “in the right direction,” and expressed the hope that it would engineer some serious work that would propel the fight against corruption and promote good governance.

“We see that the Finance Ministry, the Health Ministry and others have been changed.

We see that some of the ministers are not new as they were former ministers or deputy ministers”. 

“We believe that the new people who have come in would have the opportunity to do new things to ensure that some of the issues we have been mentioning are addressed,” the executive director of the anti-graft advocacy institution stated.

Mrs Addah called for more collaboration with CSOs, receptiveness and transparency on the part of the new appointees to promote the fight against corruption.

The GII Executive Director further stated that the government could not do it alone and that found expression in why there were other groups available to support.

“So, receptiveness is very important.

Working together is also very important because if you allow people to make the needed input into your work, you are able to chart a way forward for yourself and the sector in which you would be working,” Mrs Addah said. 

On how the reshuffle would help the fight against corruption, she said the appointees should ensure that the laws governing their sectors were followed to the letter and all should work collectively within their mandate to ensure that Ghana worked again.

Accountability

Mrs Addah said CSOs would like to see the incoming ministers scrutinise the work of the previous appointees for accountability, although they also understand the new ministers would like to prioritise their mandate to work and achieve results under their tenure.

“We should not expect to see a lot of different changes, particularly within the timeframe we are taking off.

The possibility is that they (new appointees) would ensure that whatever they are taking over is the right thing and do not have any issues,” she indicated.

Timing

Prof. Alidu, who is the Head of the Department of Political Science of the University of Ghana, said the timing of the President’s ministerial reshuffle would not make any meaningful impact, considering the time left to the general election.

“The President dragged his feet all this while until now, so people may think that this particular reshuffle is introducing new talents full of youthful people, youthful Cabinet, all those things, but will they have the time and be able to exhibit the talents they have, the skills they have and make a meaningful impact to the governance process? I doubt it,” he said.

Prof. Alidu observed that a ministerial reshuffle was not a bad thing but it is meant to inject energy and enthusiasm into the governance process by appointing people with new skills, talents and experiences to be able to inject an element of enthusiasm and to move the governance process forward.

“Is this reshuffle meant to inject energy into his government, turn things around and build a nation or is it the President bowing to pressure within his party and restructuring his government for campaign?” he asked.

“Now we have barely 10 months to the elections,” he said, adding that it took up to six months for new ministers to adapt and adjust to their new portfolio “to understand the culture of work and even familiarise with the people and catch up with what has been going on”.

“Whichever way it is, I think the timing will not help even with the best of people with skills to make a meaningful impact, given the time that we have,” Prof. Alidu stated.   

What impact?

Dr Asante, who is the Director for Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD-Ghana, said apart from Messers (Boakye) Agyarko and (Charles) Adu-Boahen who were sacked plus a few reassignments, the President had kept his team for the two terms.

“Second, the questions to ask is why now, and what is the added governance value of the reshuffle with about nine months to go to the elections,” he said.

He said for some of the minister nominees, a lot was expected, particularly for Finance.

Dr Asante said: “How to ensure the IMF programme is implemented fully to avoid further damage to the economy, particularly going into elections when governments tend to be undisciplined” was critical for the new man.

“It is also important that the new leadership tries to be more consultative and build consensus on the interventions that will promote consolidation, growth and a path to transformation.

It has been said that Mr Ofori-Atta may go to the Presidency as Advisor to the President.

If that is the case, then in a way he will still have significant influence in the way the economy runs,” he said.

Dr Asante said for other key portfolios such as Interior, it was important that Henry Quartey, the outgoing Greater Accra Regional Minister, brought some fresh approaches to dealing with conflicts in Bawku and other areas, and “managing the protests and other forms of public disapproval of government performance which are likely to continue”.

He said it also appeared that some of the appointments, particularly for deputy ministers, were to meet party expectations and support the election bid of some candidates.