President John Mahama promises that the roles would be filled after the Christmas break next year, but he says he is not in a rush to name successors for the departed Environment and Defence Ministers.
During a courtesy call by the Ghana Muslim Mission on Tuesday, November 25, the President spoke at the Jubilee House and addressed rumours about the ministry vacancies caused by the sad helicopter crash that claimed the lives of both ministers and six other officials.
He claims that focused and disciplined governance has been essential in stabilising the economy and that rushed selections would not be made in order to meet political demands.
“When we saw the economic numbers and all that, and I mean the way things were haywire, we realised that we had really bitten quite a lot and that God should help us to have the jaws and the mouth to be able to chew what we had bitten,” President Mahama said.
“And happily, he listened to our prayers. It’s taking a lot of hard work, it’s taking fiscal discipline, we’ve had to be disciplined — all the appointees.”
Despite misgivings from critics, he reaffirmed that his government has kept its pledge to keep the number of ministers under 60.
“We made a promise not to appoint more than 60 ministers, and some people said how are you going to work with only 60 ministers. As I speak today, we’re working with 58 ministers because, unfortunately, Allah gives and Allah takes. He took two of our comrades, and we haven’t filled those positions yet,” he noted.
Responding to rumours of imminent appointments, President Mahama said, “I can see people speculating, he’s going to appoint a new Defence Minister, a new Environment Minister.
“We’re not in a hurry. I’ll do those appointments next year after the holiday – the Christmas and the New Year. We’ll fill those positions, and so those speculating about somebody going to be appointed tomorrow and all that, just take your time, go and enjoy Christmas and then after Christmas we will take a decision on those ones.”
NKONKONSA.com
