STATEMENT: Structure Of Prez Akufo-Addo's New Gov't

President Akufo Addo has released the composition of his government.

As has been widely circulated in the media, there will be no deputy regional ministers in his second term and the total number of Ministers to be appointed won't exceed 85.

A statement signed by Eugene Arhin, acting Director of Communications at the Presidency, indicated that "seven Ministries, namely Aviation, Business Development, Inner City and Zongo Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, Planning, Regional Re-organisation and Development, and Special Development Initiatives, have been realigned."

The President has effected this realignment because "virtually all these special-purpose Ministries have achieved the purposes for which they were established. The Office of the Senior Minister has also been abolished. This will result in a total of twenty-eight (28) Ministries, down from the thirty-six (36) of his first term."

The statement further indicated "the President intends to appoint a Minister for Public Enterprises, who will be operating directly under the ambit of the Presidency, and not from a Ministry. The Minister will oversee a major restructuring of the entire state-owned enterprises sector to improve the productivity and profitability of the sector.

A Minister of State has been nominated, and, if approved, will be assigned to the Ministry of Works and Housing, in addition to the substantive Minister, to give special focus to the critical issue of affordable, mass housing, envisaged as one of the priorities of the President’s second term.

Meanwhile, the President by close of day, Thursday 21st January 2021, would have submitted to Parliament the list of proposed Ministers and Regional Ministers of his new government to the Speaker of Parliament for the process of their prior approval for appointment, in accordance with the dictates of the Constitution," it said.