General News of Thursday, 9 August 2018

Source: 3news.com

Reshuffle: Several ministers reassigned; Kofi Adda, Afriyie Akoto et al out?

President Akufo-Addo with some of his appointees President Akufo-Addo with some of his appointees

Impeccable information picked up by 3news.com from the presidency, points to an impending jaw-dropping reshuffle that could see high profile cabinet ministers being shown the exit by the Akufo-Addo-led government.

The government was ridiculed by many after dropping a tall list of names, as many as 110, for ministerial appointments, months after taking over power from the National Democratic Congress administration in 2017.

It is however not clear if President Akufo-Addo will touch the number in his first reshuffle after one and half years in office. He once defended the widely criticised number in an interview with the state broadcaster, saying it was a “necessary investment” needed to help him govern well.

Meanwhile, the governing New Patriotic Party’s General Secretary John Boadu calls the reshuffle, which he hinted might happen in a few days a “limited reshuffle”.

“What will be done really is not a full scale reshuffle; it’s just a limited one. What I’m saying is what will be done will be a limited one as a result of the vacancy occurring at the Energy Ministry,” he told Johnnie Hughes on TV3’s morning magazine show, New Day.

But snippets of information gathered by 3news.com suggest that the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources Joseph Kofi Adda, who was recently in the news for ‘doling out’ 30,000 cedis of his MP’s Common Fund to a church in his constituency is likely to lose his job.



Ministers likely to exit Akufo-Addo’s government include Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, who had been quite but for a few days ago when she gained notoriety among fishers after she threatened to ban fishing for one months and the ensuing controversy.



Also, the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, may be affected as he is likely to be replaced with the armyworm being an albatross hanging firmly on his neck. Packing up for a possible reassignment is the Information Minister Abdul-Hamid Mustapha.



With the dismissal of Boakye Agyarko as the Energy Minister, care-taker minister John Peter Amewu is likely to be confirmed as the substantive minister after a good fight with illegal miners at the helm of affairs at the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

Ambrose Dery may not be kept at the Interior Ministry in Akufo-Addo’s reshuffle, same as Alan Kyerematen who is the Minister of Trade and Industry.



Otiko Afisah Djaba, Children, Gender and Social Protection may be reassigned.

Although the names of the affected ministers were sourced from a credible official at the presidency, 3news.com could not independently confirm that at the time of this publication.