Deputy Ministers Are Relevant
Article 79 (1) talks about the appointment of the Deputy Ministers.It states that the President may in consultation with the Minister of State and with the prior approval of Parliament, appoint one or more Deputy Ministers to assist the Minister in the performance of his functions.
They are basically to assist the Ministers of state to prosecute the agenda of the President or the government.
Ministers are humans who can fall sick, deceased, or travel outside the jurisdiction either for official or personal functions.
In the absence of the substantive Minister, his or her Deputy should be available to act so that the activities of the Ministry would not come to a halt.
Early last year, a Minister in charge of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs of the Republic was taken ill.
The illness was so serious that he was not available to perform his ministerial duties.
The Ministry doesn’t have a Deputy Minister.
The caretaker Minister didn’t have the luxury of time to perform any obligation to the Ministry assigned to him.
Because he had a lot on his table and therefore could not offer the needed assistance to the Ministry.
The key stakeholders of the Ministry namely the chiefs and the religious leaders expressed their worry because the activities of the Ministry came to a standstill.
If the Ministry should have had a Deputy Minister, the complaints expressed would not have occurred and the Ministry would not have been in a limbo.
In all Democracies, across the globe, Deputy Ministers play excellent supporting roles to achieve their objectives by aiding their substantive Ministers.
Also, consider the Ministers in charge of Finance and Economics, Education, Energy, Lands and Natural Resources, Agriculture, Local Government and Defense, how can these Ministers function without their Deputy Ministers?
Looking at the various Agencies under their remit.
Education has the various stakeholders; more than 200 tertiary institutions both public and private, about 2000 secondary schools,lecturers, teachers, students, pupils, circuit officers, inspectors and many others.
Energy Ministry has agencies like Electrcity Company of Ghana, Ghana Gas Company, National Petroleum Authority, Petroleum Commission, Bulk Oil and Storage etc.
It is a truism that a Minister manning such a Ministry cannot do without a Deputy Minister.
We need Deputy Ministers to ease the pressure on their Ministers for the prosecution of the Government agenda.
Ahmed Osumanu Halid
Nima-441
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