SUMMARY REPORT ASSESSMENT OF MINISTRIES/MINISTERS OF FOR THE YEAR 2019 - A PROPOSAL FOR IMMEDIATE MINISTERIAL RESHUFFLE AND STRUCTURAL REFORMS.

This comprehensive survey forms part of ASEPA’s measures to primarily hold Government and its agents accountable and also to provide government with accurate information on the performance of its key ministries and ministers from the public perspective and to direct the path of government in rationing and reforming relevant ministries to attain optimum performance and efficiency that translates into socio economic development and also satisfy the ever rising expectations of the Citizens.

This research was conducted in two main forms …. 1. ASEPA's official tracking, monitoring and evaluation of the key ministries and ministers for a period of 6 months (from May 2019 to October, 2019) which was done quantitatively by team of Analysts numbering up to 10. (…Mainly from the , University of Cape-Coast and UEW)

Key areas were provided to these analysts and were made to score the various ministries on a scale of 0-100 and that served as the control test.

2. 5000 Respondents were then sampled from 3 Regions, (40% in Greater , 30% in Ashanti Region and 30% in ). These respondents were then provided with a score sheet to score the Ministers and Ministries on the same criteria as provided for the Experts.

METHODOLOGY FOR PUBLIC SURVEY

This was a closed survey with a sample size of 5000 Respondents who were sampled purposively from various backgrounds including, formal and informal, lower, middle and upper INCOME citizens, Religious Leaders , Journalists, Civil Society Activists and Students.

Respondents were made to score the various ministries in the following areas.

1. Viability (IMPORTANCE) 0-25 2.Execution of key Campaign Promises and Flagship policies 0-25 3.Inclusiveness/Transparency 0-15 4.Financial Discipline 0-25 5.Innovation 0-10

Table 1.0

No. CRITERION SCORE % 1. Viability/Importance of Ministry 25% 2. Efficiency in Executing Flagship Policies 25% 3. Inclusiveness/Transparency 15%

4. Financial Discipline 25% 5. Innovation 10% TOTAL SCORE 100%

Same 5000 Respondents were made to score the ministers under the following criteria as well;

1. Knowledge of the Job 0-25 2.Communication; Media and Public Relation 0-15 3.Visibility/Accessibility 0-15 4.Transformation/Innovation 0-25 5.Effectiveness 0-20

Table 1.2

No. CRITERION SCORE %

1. Knowledge of the Job 25%

2. Communication/Media/Public Relations 15%

3. Visibility/Accessibility 15%

4. Transformation/Innovation 25%

5. Effectiveness 20%

TOTAL 100%

Sampling method: Purposive Sampling Score range: 0-100

Respondents were selected from 3 Regions (Greater Accra 40%, Ashanti 30% and Volta Region 30%)

RESULTS

Final Score= [∑Total score of survey (0-100) +∑Total Analyst Score (0-100)] ÷2

Table 2.0

TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING MINISTRIES FOR 2019

POS. MINISTRY ANALYSTS PUBLIC AVERAGE SCORE (%) SCORE (%) (%) 1 Regional Reorganisation 70.87 65.20 68.04 2 Tourism and Culture 68 .3 5 66.80 67.58 3 Chieftaincy and Religious 64.25 68.80 66.52 Affairs 4 Parliamentary Affairs 62 .42 69.10 65.76 5 Works and Housing 65.06 65.18 65.12 6 Railway Development 62.37 66.25 64.31 7 Trade and Industry 64.28 64.02 64.15 8 Information 67.19 59.87 63.53 9 Agriculture 65.80 60.08 62.94 10 Business development 65.60 58.25 61.92

table 2.1

SUMMARY OF RESPONDENTS KEY REASONS BEHIND SCORES

POS. MINISTRY BASIS FOR QUANTITATIVE SCORE

1. Regional Reorganisation Successful Creation of New Regions

2. Tourism/Culture Successful mobilisation of diasporans for the year of return program which boosted tourism in 2019 3. Chieftaincy and Religious Successful Resolution of the Dagbon Conflict and Affairs other Chieftaincy Conflicts bringing peace to Dagbon and its environs. 4. Parliamentary Affairs Improvement in Parliamentary Democracy in 2019, Improved Parliament and Public Interactions.

5. Works and Housing Visible Housing Project initiated across the Country to bridge the Housing deficit amidst concerns over the cost of these housing projects.

6. Railway Development Visible Railway infrastructure projects being executed across the Country. 7. Trade and Industry Implementation and launch of several 1District 1 Factory Projects across the Country, Improved Foreign Direct Investment in 2019. 8. Information Improved Government Communication Machinery, Effective flow of Government information to Citizens. 9. Agriculture Implementation of the Planting for food and jobs Program but respondents still raised serious questions about accountability in terms of the resources that has gone into the program. Business Development For the Ministries supportive roles in the implementation of 1D1F and the development of 10. SMEs in 2019 and the general improvement in PSPs and PPAs.

Table 2.2

TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING MINISTERS

POS. MINISTER EXPERTS PUBLIC AVERAGE SCORE SCORE (%) (%) (%) 1 Dan Kweku Botwe 73.25 69.40 71.32

2 Catherine Afeku 69.72 68.95 69.34

3 Kofi Dzamesi 70.95 66.20 68.57

4 Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu 66.28 65.37 65.82

5 Attah Akyea 63.80 65.91 64.85

6 68.12 55.92 62.02

7 Alan Kyeremanteng 62.21 58.90 60.55

8 Kojo Oppong Nkrumah 57.25 60.98 59.12

9 Dr. Akoto Afriyie 55.63 62.19 58.91

10 Ibrahim Mohammed Awal 64.27 52.83 58.55

Table 2.3

SUMMARY OF KEY REASONS BEHIND RESPONDENTS’ SCORE

POS. MINISTER RESPONDENTS’ COMMENTS/REMARKS

1. Dan Kweku Botwe Effectively supervising the creation of new Regions which respondents believe is government’s most successful policy in 2019 2. Catherine Afeku Her Passion for tourism and the general success of the year on return program which boosted tourism greatly during the year. 3. Kofi Dzamesi For supervising the successful resolution of the Dagbon Conflict. 4. Osei Kyei Mensah For his open advocacy towards a transparent, effective and Bonsu inclusive Parliamentary democracy. 5. Atta Akyea For his proactive approach towards resolving or reducing the housing deficit in Ghana.

6. Joe Ghartey For initiating several railway projects that would boost transportation greatly when completed 7. Alan Kyeremanteng For his handling of the 1District 1Factory Project.

8. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah Very assertive communicator, his proactive efforts in resolving the bottlenecks that existed in government communication before he took over the Ministry as substantive Minister. 9. Dr. Afriyie Akoto For the implementation of the Flagship Program Planting for Food and Jobs, Some experts believes he failed to properly handled the army outbreak last year whiles others believes the 1village 1Dam policy has been a sham. 10. Ibrahim Mohammed Very hardworking, firm and proactive and for his Awal contributory efforts in the implementation of the 1D1F Policy.

TOP 10 BEST PERFORMING DEPUTY MINISTERS

Table 2.4

POS DEPUTY MINISTER AVERAGE REMARKS SCORE (%)

1 Yaw Osei Adutwum 70.45 Possess better understanding of the Education system, very passionate about Education and Hardworking more than the substantive Minister

2 Godfred Dame 68.19 Very Hardworking, Lead Attorney in most of Government cases in Court, articulate and very visible.

3 Martin A Korsah 67.60 Very supportive in the creation of new regions, hardworking and accessible.

4 Carlos Ahenkorah 66.22 Very visible and accessible, for his efforts in the executing the 1D1F Policy.

5 Ziblim Iddi 64.74 Very Approachable, Proactive and efficient.

6 Eugene Antwi 64.25 Very articulate, visible and hardworking in executing housing projects.

7 Kwabena Owusu 63.33 Very truthful and humble. Aduomi 8 Andy Appiah Kubi 62.17 Very proactive and accessible, very supportive of his Minister.

9 Sagre Babanji 60.80 Very affable and interactive.

10 Amin Adam 59.18 Have great understanding of the energy sector, accessible and very supportive of the substantive Minister.

Table 2.5

TOP 10 LEAST PERFORMING MINISTRIES

POS MINISTRY AVERAGE RESPONDENTS REMARKS (%)

1 Water Resources and 44.40 Major cities and regional capitals Sanitation engulfed with filth, Accra and other inner

cities smell badly, Lack of transparency and accountability in sanitation campaigns expenditures

2 Finance 45.78 Rising exchange Rate, Increment and introduction of new taxes, severe hardship

in the system and rising cost of living among others.

3 Health 47.57 Abandoned health Projects across the Country. Non open of completed medical

facilities for Public use, Procurement of drones instead of ambulances.

4 Local Government 48.45 Lack of development at the local level, weakened and non-functional

District/Municipal Assemblies.

5 Education 49.83 Introduction of Double track system, change in curriculum, Poor Handling of

Ministry by Minister.

6 National Security 49.99 Missing Takoradi Girls and other kidnappings, Ayawaso West Wuogon

Violence and increased crime rate across the Country.

7 Fisheries and 50.18 Premix diversion and scarcity, perceived Aquaculture corruption and nepotism in the Ministry

and poor handling of issues concerning safety and wellbeing of fishermen.

8 Roads and Highways 50.69 Abandoned road projects, non-payment of contractors and perceived corruption in

awarding road contracts.

9 Procurement 51.21 PPA, NYA scandals and related corruption issues, apparent lack of transparency and

opacity in the procurement process and a seemingly redundant or dormant.

10 Communication 51.56 Closure of Radio Stations, Kelni GVG contract saga, increment Communication

Service Tax and others.

table 2.6

TOP 10 LEAST PERFORMING MINISTERS

POS MINISTER AVERAGE RESPONDENTS REMARKS SCORE (%)

1. Cecelia Dapaah 35.46 Looks quite weak for such an active Ministry, Respondents wants her

reshuffled out for an energetic person to take over.

2. Ken Ofori Atta 38.61 Respondents seem to link him to some of the collapsed banks, strong

perception of corruption against him, respondents mentioned his involvement in the 2.5billion bond saga and his involvement in PDS

aswell, and respondents wants him reshuffled out because respondents believe he has too much interest in the financial sector to properly manage it.

3. Dr.Kwaku Agyemang 40.80 Respondents claim he is arrogant, Manu redundant and has little

understanding of the needs and problems of the Ministry

4. Hajia Alima Mahama 44.03 Respondent claims she is redundant and weak and has failed woefully to

supervise and monitor the work of the assemblies.

5. Matthew Opoku 46.02 Respondents claims he is arrogant, Prempeh communicate with the Citizens poorly

and disrespectfully and has a bad relationship with the media, others believe he is not fit for the ministry because he has little understanding of his role as a Minister of Education.

6. Albert Kan Dapaah 46.96 Respondents believe he is growing older and weaker to effectively handle

such sensitive ministry. Others cited the missing Takoradi girls and the high rate of kidnappings in 2019 as a great failure on his record as minister.

7. Elizabeth Afoley 47.46 Respondents tagged her with so much Quaye corruption and nepotism, some claim

she is not knowledgeable enough to handle a ministry as important as fisheries and aquaculture.

8. Amoako Attah 48.73 Respondents claim he is bad communicator, and has little respect

for contractors.

9. Sarah Adwoa sarfo 49.28 Respondents claim she is arrogant, has little understanding of her role and

procurement corruption seem to be on the rise under her leadership and supervision.

10. Ursula Owusu Ekuful 49.57 Respondents’ claims she is extremely arrogant and has poor working

relationship, has little knowledge of her job and is tainted with massive corruption and as such should be reshuffled out.

Table 2.7

TOP 10 LEAST PERFORMING DEPUTY MINISTERS

POS DEPUTY MINISTER SCORE % RESPONDENTS REMARKS

1 George Andah 38.225 Respondents claim he is very

arrogant and inaccessible

2 Pius Enam Hadidze 40.105 Respondents believe he is a poor Communicator, has little understanding of his role and is tainted with corruption.

3 Abena Osei Asare 42.345 Respondents believe she is quite dormant and less technical to solve most of the complex finance and economic problems under her control and be reshuffled out.

4 Benito Owusu Bio 42.59 Respondents believe he is

redundant, less visible and has a bad media relations.

5 Patrick Yaw Boamah 43.115 Respondents believes he has

little understanding of his role at the Ministry and be moved to a different Ministry.

6 Michael Gyato 43.335 Respondents believe he is

less accessible and a poor communicator

7 Bright Wreko Brobbey 45.12 Respondents believe he is

less visible and has little understanding of the work at the Ministries and should be moved to a different Ministry.

8 Nana Ama Dokuaa 47.34 Respondents believe she is

less visible and almost become redundant at the Ministry.

9 Barbarah Oteng Gyasi 49.68 Respondents believe she has

some difficulty understanding her role and

has poor stakeholder relations and must be moved elsewhere to a different Ministry.

10 William kwasi Sabi 49.325 Respondents believes he has

taken too long to settle in and also less visible and accessible.

ANALYSIS AND OBSERVATION

It was observed that most of the Public respondents were politically oriented people based on the explanations they provided to support their score. Most respondents explained that the Creation of the New Regions was the most productive venture government undertook in the year under review, hence the scored the Ministry and the Minister in charge higher accordingly.

The One District one factory was also one of the prominent government policies that was constantly mentioned by respondents but most respondents were of the view that the program could have been implemented differently and not the current module being implemented, so they scored the Ministry high in some areas and lower under different criteria and that accounted a massive drop in average score.

Security was a prominent feature as respondents expressed huge dissatisfaction in how security has been managed in the year under review. Vigilantism and political violence; herdsmen farmer clashes and the kidnapping of the four Takoradi girls were a few things respondents admitted had been poorly managed by government and the Ministry in charge.

3. Out of the ten best performing Ministers 5 were Members of Parliament representing a percentage of 50% whiles the top ten deputy ministers recorded 4 members of Parliament representing 40%.

On the other side the 8 out of the 10 least performing Ministers were MP's representing 80% and 9 out of the 10 least performing deputy ministers were Members of Parliament representing 90%.

Considering the whole 90 ministers and deputy ministers (without regional ministers) and placing the pass score at 50.0

44% of Ministers/deputy ministers scored 50% and above Whiles 56% scored 49.99% and below.

Out of the 44% only 14% were MP's and out of the 56%; 28% were MP's.

30% out of the top ten performing Ministers are Members of Cabinet.

Again 30% of the least ten performing Ministers are also cabinet ministers.

Key Observations.

a)

The correlation between Ministers who are also MP’s and Ministers who are cabinet members and their performance as ministers is an important area worth researching.

b) Respondents expressed huge dissatisfaction in the apparent nepotism in the Presidents appointment style and the apparent lack of regional balance in the Ministerial appointments especially Cabinet Ministers.

Margin of error and limitation

Most respondents interviewed were politically oriented individuals but their political affiliations which could be a major determinant in how they scored the Ministers and the Ministries were not known. The assessments were mainly based on the individual perception of respondents (perhaps mostly influenced by media discussions) and this is because not enough information is available to respondents to fully assess the Ministers and their Ministries and so the results may not necessarily reflect the actual performance of the ministers but there is also the highest possibility that respondents views and perceptions may actually tally with the actual performance of Ministers.

In future with an effective RTI law all more relevant information could be accessed through the various ministries and agencies under the ministries and assessing ministers and Ministries could be done in a more efficient way and the margin of errors for subsequent surveys maybe lower.

The margin of error for this survey is (+or-) 0.276

RECOMMENDATIONS

The following portfolios recorded a lower viability score and we recommend for immediate Scrapping.

1.Minister for Special Development Initiative 2.Minister for Business Development 3.Minister for Planning 4.Minister for Inner city and Zongo development 5.Minister of state at the Presidency (in charge of Agriculture) 6.Minister for Regional reorganization

The following Portfolios even though recorded a high viability score, respondents the roles were quite “duplicatory” and therefore should be merged with other Ministries

Ministry of Transport

Minister for Transport Deputy Minister (in charge of Aviation) Deputy Minister (in charge of Railways Development) Deputy Minister (in charge of Ports and Harbour) Deputy Minister (in charge of Roads and Highways).

2. Minister for National Security should be put under Ministry of interior as a deputy Ministerial role.

Ministry of Interior

Minister for Interior Deputy Minister (in Charge of National Security) Deputy Minister (in charge of General Interior.)

3. Regional reorganization should be put under the Ministry of Local Government as a deputy Ministerial role.

Ministry for Local Government and Rural Development

Minister for Local Government and Rural development. Deputy Minister (in charge of regional reorganization). Deputy Minister (in charge of General Affairs).

4. Minister of state at the Presidency in charge of Procurement should also be put under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.

Ministry of Finance

Minister for Finance &Economic Planning

Deputy Minister for Finance (In charge of Procurement)

Deputy for Finance (In charge of General Finance)

5. Ministry of water resources and Sanitation should also be put under the Ministry of Works and Housing.

Ministry of Works and Housing Minister for Works and Housing

Deputy Minister (In charge Works and Housing) Deputy Minister (In charge of Water and Sanitation)

RESHUFFLE PROPOSAL BASED ON PERFORMANCE

Minister for Water Resources and Sanitation- Cecilia Dapaah- OUT

Minister of Trade and Industry – Alan Kyeremanten - IN

Minister of Finance – Ken Ofori-Atta- OUT

Minister for Energy – - IN

Minister for Local Governement- Hajia Alima Mahama -OUT

Minister of Defence – Dominic Nitiwul - OUT

Minister of Interior – Ambrose Dery - IN

Attorney General – Gloria Akuffo -IN

Minister of Foreign Affairs – Shirley Ayorkor Botchway -IN

Minister of Agriculture – Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto -IN

Minister of Education – Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh -OUT

Minister of Health – Kwaku Agyemang-Manu -OUT

Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation – Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei - OUT

Ministry of Regional Reorganization and Development – Dan Kweku Botwe –IN

Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources – Kwaku Asomah Kyeremeh - IN

Ministry of Railway Development – Joe Ghartey-IN

Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations – Ignatius Bafuor Awuah -OUT

Ministry of Transport – Kweku Ofori Asiamah -IN

Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts – Catherine Afeku -IN

Ministry of Special Development Initiative – Mavis Hawa Koomson-OUT

- 12 cabinet Ministers must be reshuffled out based on performance and also to create space to add fresher and richer ideas to cabinet.

- The President must look within and without his party to find fresh talents to recruit to cabinet to make his administration more robust and also a lot more inclusive.

ALLIANCE FOR SOCIAL EQUITY AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY-ASEPA [email protected]

TEL: 0243 019131 / 0542120628

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- MENSAH THOMPSON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALLIANCE FOR SOCIAL EQUITY AND PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY-ASEPA 0243 019131

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