Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The issue of personnel in the office of the Vice President has resurfaced following Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s promise to reduce the number of cabinet appointments to 50.
In his first economic speech as leader of the New Patriotic Party on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, Dr Bawumia indicated that, unlike President Akufo-Addo, he intends to significantly reduce the number of ministers.
This will increase efficiency by reducing waste and ensuring value for money in procurement, he said. βMoving more public services to the private sector would free up fiscal space of at least 3% of GDP.
“This represents a major paradigm shift. Moreover, an efficient governance system will require even fewer ministers. So there will be no more than 50 ministers and deputy ministers,” he said. added.
The sincerity of his pledge has been called into question by members of the National Democratic Congress over disagreements over the number of people in his office as vice president.
They say Mr Bawumia cannot be trusted to reduce the size of government if he can operate with a bloated staff list.
On the Saturday, February 10, 2024 edition of TV3’s Key Issues program, Sammy Gyamfi, National Public Relations Officer of the National Democratic Congress, threatened to release the complete list of all 24 staff members in the Office of the Vice President.
The list was released by the Vice President’s Office in 2021 when the Vice President was accused of only staffing his office with people who sympathized with his religious beliefs, Ghanaweb checked.
Below is a complete list of staff
1. Mr. Augustine Bray β Secretary to the Vice President
2. Ms. Elizabeth Utka β Assistant to the Vice President
3. Professor Joe Amoako-Tuffour β Secretary/Member of the Economic Management Team
4. Professor Kwaku Appiah-Adu β Head of Shipping
5. Dr. Gideon Boako, Techno-Economic Advisor and Public Relations Officer
6. Mr. Edward Owirodu Appiah β Liaison Director
7. Alhaji Ismaela Ibrahim β Director of Operations
8. Nana Enoch Mensah β Protocol, Director
9. Frank Agyei-Twum β Director of Communications
10. Isaac Botchway β Head of Security
11. Major Samuel Owusu-Kwakye β Director of Transportation
12. Ebron Rothschild Hughes β Technical and Economic Advisor
13. Dr. Kabir Mahama β Technical and Economic Advisor
14. Dr. Mutaka Aroro β Technical and Economic Advisor
15. Mr. Maxwell Krobea Asante β Deputy Director of Communications
16. Mr. Akbar Rohula Khomeini β Technical Advisor (Politics)
17. Mr. Emmanuel Mensah β Chief Driver
18. Mr. Keck Osei β Director of Administration
19. Ms Lovia Bamfo β Deputy Director of Administration
20. ASP Issa White Yakubu
22. Salam Mustafa β Program Director
23. Dr. Samuel Frimpong β Technical and Economic Advisor
24. Obour Kutando β Special Projects Director
E.K.