Ghana's new ministers

Ghana's new president, John Kufuor, has made 12 ministerial and senior advisory appointments, including putting his brother in charge of the defence ministry.

Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, a member of parliament and a medical doctor, was widely tipped to be appointed to the health ministry, because he has shadowed the post since 1996.

But other government members said he would make a good defence minister, and denied there was any family favouritism.

"He's calm, reflective and unflappable and those are qualities the president was looking for," said Elizabeth Ohene, the president's newly-appointed public affairs advisor.

"He was at any rate going to be a cabinet minister based on his professional credentials and performance in parliament, so a question of nepotism doesn't arise at all," she said.

The new chief-of-staff, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, formerly John Kufuor's campaign manager, said: "His brother's appointment to defence also demonstrates that he's particularly keen on that ministry and this is as close as he could get to appointing himself to the portfolio.

"His brother is the only cabinet minister who can walk into his bedroom at any time and you need that sort of closeness with the president if you're handling defence in this country."

Currency challenge

Many people had tipped Courage Quashigah, a retired army major and national NPP organiser, for the defence job. He got agriculture instead.

Mr Quashigah, 51, has shown enthusiasm in the subject following a visit last year to Israel where he saw how deserts had been turned into orchards.

"There's no reason why grass should be growing on our land when we're importing food," he told the BBC.

The finance minister is 58-year-old Yaw Osafo-Maafo, an MP, engineer and banker who has consulted for more 10 years for the World Bank in half a dozen African countries.

"My immediate task is to stabilise the currency, lower inflation and interest rates, and try to match our expenditure with revenues -- cut our shirt according to our cloth," he told the BBC shortly after he was named.

Other new appointees include: