National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Johnson Asiedu Nketia has disclosed that President John Dramani Mahama received intense pressure by some political actors in the appointment of Ministers.
According to him, some wanted the president to go back on his word and appoint more than 60 Ministers.
President John Dramani Mahama while in opposition criticized the Akufo-Addo government for appointing over 120 Ministers and promised to do better hence the promise to appoint only 60 Ministers.
However, according to Asiedu Nketia, certain elements within the party mounted pressure on the President to appoint more than 60 Ministers after the NDC won the elections in December but Mahama insisted on not breaking his word.
“You know I have always been against the appointment of over 120 Ministers by Akufo-Addo because it was a complete waste of resources. The amount of money spent on a single Minister should tell you that we needed to cut down on the number.”
“So after winning the elections, several meetings were held within the party to get the appointment to add at least 5 more Ministers to the list but president Mahama said not even a quarter will be added to the number,” Asiedu Nketia said.
He added that if the party decides to satisfy everybody with a Ministerial appointment by increasing the number, it is the country that will suffer and they the NDC didn’t come to power to do that.
“Akufo-Addo wanted to satisfy everybody by appointing many Ministers and we saw the end results. In life you cannot eat your cake and half it. If we want to develop the country we must be prepared to make certain sacrifices.”
