Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will scrap eight ministries and 41 ministerial positions in his new cabinet, said a release on Thursday.

The president will reduce the number of ministries to 26, down from the previous 38, and appoint 85 ministers instead of 126 during his first term, said the release signed by Eugene Arhin, the Director of Communication at the presidency.

The ministries to be scrapped include the Ministries of Aviation, Business Development, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Inner City and Zongo Development, Regional Reorganization, and Special Development Initiatives, all special-purpose ministries Akufo-Addo created during his first term, said the release.

“The president is realigning these special-purpose ministries because they have all achieved the purposes for which they were created,” added the release.

Furthermore, it said 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 enterprise’s sector to improve the productivity and profitability of the sector.

The president is expected to submit a list of 46 appointees in his first batch of ministerial appointments to parliament for vetting and approval.

“The President has decided that there will be no Deputy Regional Ministers. At an appropriate date, the President, in accordance with the Constitution, will submit to Parliament the list of all Deputy Ministers of State for its approval.

“On Wednesday, 20th January, and Thursday, 21st January, President Akufo-Addo held one-on-one meetings with the new ministers-designate, as well as with his first-term ministers who will not transition into the new government, to break the news to them.

“To the Ministers-designate, President Akufo-Addo congratulated them on their nominations and expressed his expectation that they will be promptly approved by Parliament, to allow them to start work forthwith. To the former Ministers, the President assured them of possible roles to be played in the larger governmental structure, and wished them the best of luck in their future endeavours,” the statement said.

In the same vein, Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Mr Sulemana Braimah, has asked President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to explain the decision that has resulted in the planned reduction of the number of minsters he will appoint to serve in his second administration.

Mr Arhin in an interview with the Daily Graphic said the President Akufo-Addo has decided to collapse seven of the ministries he created in 2017.

He said, “The list, which would be printed on green sheets in the form of a statement, would contain a mixture of both old and new ministers, but the number would certainly not go beyond 85, as against the 126 in the first term.”

“Over 40 ministers and deputy ministers in the first Akufo-Addo administration who lost their parliamentary seats will not find themselves in the new government.”

Sharing his perspectives on this development in a tweet, the MFWA boss, Mr Sulemana Braimah said “Why not over 120 again? We were told to judge not the numbers but the delivery and results.

“Why, was the results from the fat size not good? If the numbers led to great outcomes why reduce it?”