Former President John Mahama’s “limited vision” did not allow him to “visualise” how to create new regions even though seven petitions were presented to him as president to that effect, the Minister of Regional Reorganisation and Development, Mr Dan Botwe has said.
Speaking during a closed-door meeting with some disappointed business owners and importers in his office on Monday, 19 August 2019, the former President noted, in reaction to concerns about the government’s increasing budget overruns that: “There can be no justification for some of the ministerial portfolios created by this administration.”
“The Senior Minister, Minister of State in the Office of Vice-President, Minister of State in the Office of Senior Minister, Ministers for Procurement, Monitoring and Evaluation; Business Development, Special Initiatives, Aviation, Railway Development are all an unnecessary charge on the public purse”, Mr Mahama stated.
He also argued that with the completion of the creation of new regions, the Ministry for Regional Reorganisation has been rendered redundant.
Reacting to Mr Mahama’s comment about his ministry, the Okere MP told the media that: “When the UK wanted to get out of the EU, they appointed a whole minister for that”.
In Ghana, he continued, “They would have said: ‘This is just how to get out of the EU; why do you need a minister?’ But the UK didn’t do that. They appointed a minister. So, it’s about the vision that you have”.
In Mr Botwe’s view, Mr Mahama, who is the 2020 flag bearer of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), lacked vision, as President, to do what the Akufo-Addo government has done.
“Did I hear a former President talk about that?” Mr Botwe asked.
“It shows the limited vision he [Mr Mahama] has”, the minister said, adding: “He doesn’t get it”.
“In the first place, he couldn’t do it”, the former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party insisted, adding: “The people made representation to him, he couldn’t do it because the capacity to visualise it and put in place a mechanism to achieve it, he didn’t have it, so, he couldn’t do it. His own people made appeals to him; he was not bold enough to do it”.
Source: Class
