We never promised a lean government - Mustapha Hamid
The Minister of Information, Mr Mustapha Hamid has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) never promised a lean government during the Election 2016 campaign.
Justifying why it was important for President Akufo-Addo to have 110 ministers and deputies at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Hamid said: “We have had, in the history of this country, governments that are smaller that have landed this country in bigger debt and bigger mess than governments that have had bigger ministers."
He said in the view of government, it was not the leanness and bigness of a government that determines its output and its ultimate performance.
“I can purport to run a government with 10 ministers and still create an avenue for them to loot our nation, if that is what the Ghanaian people want, or to have a government that is bigger than that but which have people of integrity, of honesty, who are on the job and doing the things that ought to be done,“ he added.
“For example, the Kufuor government, apart from this Akufo-Addo government, would have been the government that had the biggest number of ministers and deputy ministers. But everybody knows President Kufuor’s record in this country. Everybody knows what we did for this nation at the end of President Kufour’s government. Those who came subsequently after that and created all the financial mess that we have on our hands which we are still dealing with had a smaller government."
“We never promised a lean government. Nowhere did we promise a lean government, because in our view it is not the leanness or bigness of a government that determines its output and its ultimate performance,” Mr Hamid stated.
Mr Hamid's reaction followed comments that the size of President Akufo-Addo's appointees was too large.
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh