President Nana Akufo-Addo has threatened to sack any deputy minister who is found to be disloyal to their sector ministers.
Speaking at the swearing-in of new Gender Minister, Lariba Zuweira Abudu and Fransisca Oteng Mensa as deputy, he explained that it is a deputy minister’s duty to support the minister in the execution of the ministry’s mandate.
President Akufo-Addo said, “Article 79, Clause 1 of the Constitution provides that the deputy minister is appointed by the President in consultation with the minister and with the prior approval of Parliament to assist the minister in the performance of his or her functions.”
“Your basic responsibility is to assist your minister in the performance of his function. Loyalty to the minister is a fundamental premise for the success of your work. I will not countenance any acts of disloyalty or subversion of your minister,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo on Thursday added that “I will take such acts as disloyalty to me personally and by inference disloyalty to the state and party.”
He stated that a deputy minister’s route to advancement does not lie in their ability to undermine their minister, but rather provide aid to ensure the growth of their ministries and the country as a whole.
“You will not profit from such conduct in Akufo-Addo’s government. On the contrary, you are likely to forfeit your office.
“I will like you to work with your minister in all sincerity and transparency, that is the best guarantee of your individual success and our collective success,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Meanwhile, a Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah Asante, believes that the competence of deputy ministers should be the basis of assessment, not loyalty.
“You can have somebody who is 100% loyal to you, but he is known as an incompetent person who cannot perform, is that the result we want? Yes, loyalty is important, but the topmost requirement is competence.”