Resigning cabinet ministers are going to distract government businesses – Political science lecturer says

Dr. Alidu Seidu, the Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana, Legon has said that the resignation of cabinet ministers will damage government businesses.

Dr. Alidu said the orphan ministries will have issues with transition processes to get replacements and also loose gains made in those ministries due to the resignation of the ministers.

Two ministers so far wants to lead the New Patriotic Party as its flagbearer for the upcoming 2024 general elections and are doing so by resigning from the Akufo-Addo government.

The Hon. Minister for Trade and Industry Alan Kyeremanten gave his resignation to the president last week, whiles the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto also did same this week.

In an interview on Point of View on Citi TV, “the resignations are both distractions and enablers for government business.

“They are distractions in the sense that there is so much attention focused on the cabinet ministers who are resigning their posts and there is going to be a little bit of transition challenges in those particular ministries. A caretaker minister will have to be appointed to act up to a point until the president finds a replacement and sometimes getting a replacement who is not a deputy minister distracts government business,” Dr. Alidu said.

“These people who were working in government as ministers were also a bit distracted because their attention was divided between executing their electoral campaigns and also helping the government and the party to succeed. In cases like that, it is usually a thin balance between prosecuting your personal campaign as a potential flagbearer but also helping and supporting government business,” he said .

According to him, if committed and competent people are appointed as replacements, the effects of the distractions would be controlled.

“When you look at what is happening now, it will distract government business a little bit but at the end of the day, if new ministers are appointed to take over, and they settle in very well, then government business will take precedence,” he concluded.