Occupy Ghana has called on President Nana Akufo-Addo to consider reducing the size of his administration.

According to a statement by the pressure group, the country’s finances could not support the number of ministers appointed by the president and that an elephantine government would increase the chances of “corrupt officials plundering the little that we have left as a nation…”

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“In his inaugural address, the President promised to protect the national purse. The appointment of 110 ministers who, in comparison to the average Ghanaian, will be earning a considerable amount of money in salaries, allowances and benefits over the next 4 years (in addition to enjoying a range of ex-gratia benefits when they leave office) does not sound to us like a diligent attempt to protect a sorely-depleted purse.”

The statement follows the decision by the president this week to appoint more ministers and deputies, bring the number of ministerial appointments to 110. That figure is the largest ever the country has ever witnessed.

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The group called on the Akufo-Addo government to “reconsider the size of his ministerial appointments” and consider consolidating some ministerial positions.

Analysis

The Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid has said in interviews that the government did not promise a lean government during the campaign but an efficient one. According to him, the problems of the country meant that there was the need for a strong and ‘competent army’.

Meanwhile, many ordinary Ghanaians have not taken kindly to their explanations with some questioning if this was ‘the change’ the new government promised while in opposition.