'Ignorant' ministers bane of Ghana’s growth – Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu

The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu, has attributed the stagnation of the country’s progress to successive government’s inability to nominate persons with deep rooted understanding for the work of the ministries they are assigned to.

He argued that successive Ghanaian governments, unlike other jurisdictions, most often appoint persons with little or no knowledge in the ministries they are assigned to.

He added that such nominees lack the potentials of helping the President formulate policies.

Mr Kyei-Mensa-Bonsu, speaking to the press at a media soiree to officially define the role of his ministry, quizzed how the country could progress with its ministers learning on the job.

“I will suggest to you that apart from the corruption element…we are in a country where ministers are nominated to certain sectors and when they appear before the appointment committee and you ask them the most rudimentary of questions pertaining to that sector, they are not able to tell you. They only tell you that ‘I’m a new person let me go there I will learn’ Learn what?” he asked.

He continued: “When the constitution provides that cabinet ministers are to assist the President to run the state efficiently, that is the remit of ministers and if you are a cabinet minister, the additional responsibility on you is to assist the President evolve policies. What of that man who appears before the appointment committee who is asked the most fundamental questions relating to the sector and he tells you ‘I’m going to learn’. How is that person going to assist the President to run that sector efficiently?

“How is that person going to assist the President to evolve policies in that sector? This is one of the reasons why we are not moving forward as a nation as fast as we should. It’s like the dance of some people that I know. They move one step forward and two steps backwards.”