Reduce your 'obese' gov't size - Appiah Kubi to Akufo-Addo

A member of the Communications Team of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Yaw Appiah Kubi says the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is suffering from obesity.

According to him, this is evident in the number of persons President Akufo-Addo has appointed to work at the presidency, which according to him, is unprecedented in the country’s political life.

Mr Appiah Akubi’s comments follow the release of a list of 998 current staffers and ministers of state at the presidency to Parliament for the purposes of accountability.

The list, which is for the period January 7, 2017 to December 31, 2017, is in line with the constitution and the Presidential Office Act 1993, which enjoins the Presidency to annually brief Parliament on the list of persons who work at the Presidency.

Its release has generated a public debate with many saying size of the employees in the Office of the President was "big".

Speaking on Accra-based Asempa FM's Kukurantumi programme on Saturday, April 21, 2018, Mr Appiah Kubi said the Akufo-Addo government is the biggest government the country has ever seen since independence.

He said although the president during his campaign ahead of the 2016 elections promised to run a smaller government than the then NDC, his government is rather the biggest.

He just as medical practitioners often advice obese people to lose weight, they [NDC] are also advising the Akufo-Addo-led government to reduce the size of its administration as it is becoming a burden on the ordinary Ghanaian.

Mr Appiah Kubi, a former Assembly Member for the Osaebronmu Electoral Area at Akropong in the Akuapem North District, said many Ghanaians, particularly the youth who voted for the NPP government are highly disappointed as the government has failed to deliver on its promises.

He said all the things that the Akufo-Addo campaign team criticized the former administration of, the current government under his watch is rather doing the worse form of it, citing increases in fuel prices, high taxes, and a huge number of ministers and ministries as well as hikes in prices of foodstuff.