SO WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT LEAN GOVERNMENT?

 

SO WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT LEAN GOVERNMENT? 

Iddi Muhayu-Deen writes... 

I have, time without number, heard some of the avowed critics of President Akufo-Addo, mainly NDC folks, express serious misgivings at the President's decision to appoint some 36 Ministers so far to help him administrator the country. They say, per the current trend, the President is likely going to miss an opportunity to run a lean government and this, according to them, would automatically balloon the cost of running government machinery at the taxpayer's expense. What a logic! 

I just can't connect the dots nor cross the ‘T’s. Such hasty generalization and premature ejaculation can only give birth to babies with sharp teeth. Mind you, we are yet to know the budget of each Ministry and whether each Minister would necessarily have a Deputy. In any case, the President himself, explains that as many as 6 of these Ministries would operate directly from the Presidency and would also not have a separate budget but from that of the Office of the President. Do not forget that at the last count, ex-president John Mahama had as many as 82 Ministers and Deputies. 

Why should this even be an issue? I thought our concern should rather be, whether we are getting value for money which, of course, was conspicuously lacking in the previous government. Okay, let's even assume without admitting that their argument against Nana Addo’s appointments is without blemish, I ask, did Ghanaians go to the polls last December to vote for a certain ‘lean something something’? Was that why Ghanaians voted against John Mahama? I thought we [Ghanaians] voted against hardship, hopelessness, legendary corruption and arrogance of power, which were the hallmarks of the erstwhile Mahama government. 

I thought we voted for value for money and institutional discipline. I thought teacher and nursing trainees voted for the restoration of their allowance. I thought we the people of Zongo voted for the Zongo Development Fund. So who voted for lean government? What at all is this monster called, lean government and who determines the leanness or otherwise of a government and by what yardstick? It is pretty obvious that our NDC friends still do not know why they lost the 2016 elections in that miserable way. I’m also not sure that you and I have to help them come out from their illusion.  

In the nutshell, what is evidently clear is that Ghanaians have overwhelmingly given the President, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, a 4-year mandate to fulfil his campaign promises, some of which are quite grandiose and audacious but of course, doable. The machinery and methodology by which he [the President] wants to use to deliver on his mandate shouldn't really bother us. All we want, is to see the deliverables or tangible results at the end of the 4 years.

I am not sure Ghanaians, particularly, my boss, Franklin Cudjoe of Imani fame, whose criticism of Nana Addo’s appointments, has been louder than the sound of South African vuvuzela, would buy any excuse from Nana Addo if he came to tell us that he couldn’t fulfil his campaign promises because he wasn’t given the opportunity to appoint the number of Ministers he wanted in order to assist him deliver on his mandate. Imani Ghana, we all know, would soon be conducting a study to ascertain the extent at which the Nana Addo government is delivering on their manifesto promises. 

I am not sure Imani would accept that excuse from the government either. Festival of Ministers you call it? Respectfully my boss and mentor, forgive me for disagreeing with you on this. As you know, that is the kind of orientation you and the likes of lawyer Ace Ankomah, Sydney Casley Hayford, Egbert Fiable Jnr, Nana Sarpong, Ayesu Philip, George Andah and the rest of the OccupyGhana team gave me. You trained me to, at all-time, muster the testicular fortitude to say it as it is and not romanticize with words on the altar of appeasing Authority. 

Fellow Ghanaians, we have given the mandate to President Nana Akufo-Addo to govern this country for the next 4-years, at least. It is only fair and commonsensical that we allow him space to use his formula to govern. After all, at the end of his 4 years, we would have an opportunity to access him and this would form the basis of our renewal or otherwise of his mandate in 2020. In the meantime, let’s stop the “ugly noises” and think Ghana First for love of God and country. 

Assalamu alaikum