General News of Wednesday, 30 October 2019

Source: starrfm.com.gh

All ministries are relevant – Government replies ISSER

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Government has fended off claims by the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research (ISSER) that some ministries are redundant.

ISSER in a report launched Tuesday, questioned the relevance of some government ministries like the Monitoring and evaluation and the ministry in charge of regional reintegration as well as the Business development Ministry, amongst others.

According to them, the continuous existence of such ministries as well as government interventions like the FSHS and NABCO does little to improve the economic fortune of the country.

Dr Charles Ackah, Senior Research Fellow at ISSER presenting the 2019 mid-year review of the economy asked government to have a re-look at some of its flagship programs like free SHS, NABCO and some ministries which he says are having an impact on spending without necessarily providing the desired results.

Addressing the media Wednesday, Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the views of ISSER are not accurate.

“we are of the view that regional reorganization and development, yes, we have finished reorganization at a level but it has a development task ahead of us which it is currently embarking on as found in the 2019 budget that is being executed. “

He added: “the business development ministry for example, I’m not sure there is anybody who can say that they have not seen the various interventions by the business development ministry, the dedicated attention that the business development ministry has towards entrepreneurial development.

“Funding and supporting young entrepreneurs so that they move to the next level and scale up their businesses. The government s of the view that we should have dedicated attention to that space. That is why you find the business development ministry out there and I’m sure everybody will attest to the fact that the ministry has been executing its mandate”.

“We very much respect these views, but we disagree with them,” he ended.