The newly appointed ministers in President Akufo-Addo’s recent reshuffle are expected to serve ceremonial roles according to the Member of Parliament for Jirapa, Cletus Dapilah. Dapilah expressed his opinion that the 2024 Budget has already been presented, indicating that the new ministers would have limited ability to make any significant changes.
Speaking on JoyNews, Dapilah noted that the groundwork for government actions had already been laid by the previous ministers, leaving little room for the newcomers to effect substantial alterations.
He further emphasized that the recent reshuffling missed a crucial chance to downsize the government, especially considering the involvement of the party’s flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia. Dapilah pointed out that Dr. Bawumia had pledged to reduce the number of ministers to 50 if elected as President in the 2024 election, but with the recent reshuffling, there was no reduction in the size of the government.
In Dapilah’s view, the reshuffling was more about bringing certain people to support Dr. Bawumia in the 2024 elections, rather than making meaningful changes. He stated, “This reshuffling is about Dr. Bawumia. It is about bringing certain people that would come and support Dr. Bawumia to win in the 2024 elections, but that would not happen though, because this is just a team of people, the old team that has been recycled and I believe that many of them even though would be called ministers, are not happy.”
It is clear that Dapilah does not have high expectations for the newly appointed ministers and believes that they will have limited influence in the current government setup.
