Ghana’s president scraps seven ministries in cost-cutting move

Ghana President John Mahama has reduced the country’s ministries from 30 to 23 in a bid to cut government spending.

Mahama’s decision – an executive order – to trim the number of government ministries was contained in a gazette dated January 9 – two days after he took office.

The West African country would no longer have the ministries of information, sanitation and water resources, national security, railway development, parliamentary affairs, public enterprises, and chieftaincy and religious affairs.

The scrapped ministries were in place under Nana Akufo-Addo, immediate-past president of Ghana.

The order established the ministries of finance, health, interior, defence, education, energy and green transition, roads and highways, transport, sports and recreation, justice, lands and natural resources, and local government and chieftaincy and affairs.

Others are foreign affairs, communication, digital technology, environment, science and technology, youth development and empowerment, works, housing and water resources, gender, children and social protection, tourism, culture and creative arts, labour, jobs and employment, food and agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, and trade, agribusiness and industry.

Mahama, who was first in Ghana’s Jubilee House between 2012 and 2017, returned to power after defeating former Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia.

The president polled 6,328,397 votes, representing 56.55 percent of the vote cast, while Bawumia gathered 4,657,304 votes with 41.6 percent.

Bawumia conceded defeat before the official results were announced.

Mahama’s cost-cutting move is in contrast to that of President Bola Tinubu, his Nigerian counterpart, who increased ministries to 48 in 2023 from 44 under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Tinubu’s decision has faced widespread criticism as Nigeria struggles with a deepening cost-of-living crisis.