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General News of Monday, 23 February 2009

Source: GYE NYAME CONCORD

Mills Unveils Deputy Ministers

Sacks all DCEs, MCEs
President John Evans Atta Mills is set to announce a list of deputy ministerial nominees for the various ministries this week.
Sources close to the presidency say the list will be dominated by many of the youth activists of the ruling NDC, including Committee for Joint Action (CJA) and NDC youth, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who will partner failed Dome-Kwabenya MP-aspirant and Minister for Information, Mrs Zita Okakwei, at the Information Ministry.
NDC Propaganda Secretary Fifi Kwetey is set to be one of the deputy ministers for the Kwabena Duffour-led Ministry of Finance, with the other deputy ministerial post going to a US-returnee believed to have had great experience working with the Bretton-Woods institutions, Mr Seth Terker.
Terker will be one of the fresh faces joining the Mills administration though he has been a closet NDC supporter for years, sources say.
Intelligence picked by the Gye Nyame Concord also suggest that the defeated MP for Lawra-Nandom and Ghana Law School lecturer, Dr Ben Kumbuor, returns to the executive arm of government as the proposed deputy minister for Health. Kumbuor had been lobbying for the deputy finance ministerial portfolio over the past weeks after his name failed to make the grade for full ministerial post.
Two of the long-suffering youth of the party, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and Baba Jamal are set to pick offices, with Elvis slated for Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development.
Baba Jamal on the other hand will be replacing Kobby Akyeampong as Deputy Minister for The Interior Ministry, sources say.
The very controversial and acerbic tongue Kobby Akyeampong was originally set to pick the deputy Ministerial job at the Tourism Ministry but lost out at the last minute. His name may still make the deputy ministerial list, sources say.
Koku Anyidoho, the self-proclaimed Communications Director at the Castle, Osu, will be exiting his self-created post for the office of Deputy Minister to Haruna Iddrisu at the Communications Ministry.
Comedian, actor, film producer and new MP for Ablekuma South, Fritz Baffour, is set for the deputy ministerial post at the Tourism Ministry, where his boss would be one of the two female nominees whose appointment processes excited various worries about their competencies from many Ghanaians, Mrs Juliana Mensah Azumah. The other female minister is Mrs Zita Okaikwei.
Initially pencilled-in for the Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office, serious but jovial goodfella Rojo Mettle Nunoo is now slated for the Transport Ministry.
Meanwhile, the President’s Press Secretary, Mahama Ayariga, confirmed earlier report by the Gye Nyame Concord that Mr Alex Segbefi has been slated to serve as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Castle, Osu.
In a press release issued by the Castle, Mr Ayariga announced that the President has also appointed Mrs Valery Sackey as the other deputy Chief of Staff who will work alongside Segbefia.
Sources say the President by an executive order issued last Friday Mills has dismissed all DCEs from their posts.
Meantime, the President has sworn in almost all the ministers he nominated for the consideration of Parliament.
He administered the Oaths of Allegiance, Ministers and Secrecy to the number of ministers approved by Parliament.
The ministers who have since resumed duties are Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, Minister of Education; Mr Cletus Avoka, Minister of The Interior; Mr Joseph Yieleh-Chireh, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development; Ms Akua Dansua, Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs and Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Transport.
The others are Mr Collins Dauda, Minister of Forestry and Natural Resources; Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, Minister of Energy; Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Roads and Highways and Dr Kwabena Dufuor, Minister of Finance and Mrs Juliana Azumah Mensah, Minister of Tourism.
Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister-Designate of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General is expected back in Ghana from her Commonwealth job in London and would be sworn in later in the week with other colleague ministers yet to be sworn into office.