Scrap Special Development Ministry and apply resources to free SHS —CDG
The Coalition for Democratic Governance (CDG), a pressure group has called on the president to scrap the Ministry of Special Development Initiative (MSDI) and divert their budgetary allocation towards the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme.
Advertisement
According to the group, the ministry has no relevance and only exists to over burden the public purse.
The group believes that the MSDI only performs some basic functions of other existing ministries such as the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Works and Housing, hence the need to be scrapped.
Speaking at a press conference in Accra Wednesday morning, Mr Sylvester K. K. Mintah, a convener of the group, said the group is giving the government a three month ultimatum to scrap the SDI ministry and also withdraw and review the 2018 budget.
He said if government does not scrap the MSDI ministry, withdraw and review the 2018 budget, the group would be forced to hit the streets.
“We demand that government scrap the Ministry of Special Development Initiative and divert their budgetary allocations to the free SHS”, Mr Mintah stated.
The press conference was on the theme: “Protecting the public purse indeed”.
“We are asking for the total withdrawal and review of the 2018 budget”, Mr Mintah said, adding that “We are going to hit this government to ensure that whatever this government promised is delivered”.
He explained that assessment done on the government by the group indicates that government instead of protecting the public purse was rather over burdening the public purse with wasteful expenditures.
The Chief Convener of the group, Dr Ebenezer Kofi Hayford, in his address criticized the government for introducing what he described as “absurd ministries” to waste the country’s limited resources.
He said a country like Ghana does not need 110 ministers to manage the affairs of the country, adding that other African countries that are as big as three times the size of Ghana has less than 75 ministers.