Time To Reshuffle, Fire & Hire

Ministerial positions have never been permanent. In fact, it has never been permanent in any government. In other jurisdictions, ministers are made to sign performance contracts, and if they fail to meet the standards, they are fired.

A President needs not go to court to change his ministers. After all, he is the one who hires them and it is he who has the sole prerogative to send them packing if they fail to perform to his satisfaction. Reshuffling of ministers is also another way to shake up the government in order to get good results.

In my view, the time has come for the President to fire some of his ministers, hire new ministers and reshuffle his Cabinet. It is not for me to mention the names of ministers who should be fired, neither is it for me to tell the President who should go to what ministry since the President has bigger ears than I have.

It is abundantly clear that some of the ministers are not performing at all and they need to go. The political party in power today has in its arsenal a pool of fine brains who can occupy ministerial positions and perform better, so it is incumbent upon the President to fire non-performing ministers and replace them with better ones right now (as if I can command the President!!!). If a minister is not doing well in one ministry and the President, in his own wisdom, thinks he can do better in another ministry, the President must reshuffle.

The world is in difficult times and in a meltdown mode, with the price of crude oil skyrocketing and wars and rumours of wars threatening the stability of the economies of nations.

In times like this, the government has no time to lose. The President must apply harsh remedies to cure inveterate diseases. Our country is not out of the woods yet as far as the coronavirus pandemic is concerned.

We cannot afford to pay ministers who are not performing well when others are sitting at the touchline, ready to go the extra mile to make things work better. This is the time to bite the bullet so that the country can keep her head above water since we are not in normal times. This is not the time for niceties or misguided politeness. Heads must roll.

One ministry which has continued to capture my attention is the Ministry of Information, headed by Hon. Kwadwo Oppong Nkrumah. Information in governance has never been taken for granted since time immemorial.

dolf Hitler nearly conquered the world with his vile propaganda. He saw the need to inform Germans about his ambition and as such he appointed a Minister of Propaganda in the person of Joseph Goebbels. No wonder the NDC used to have National Propaganda Secretaries. Whilst Hitler concentrated on the building of his war machines, Gobbles paid attention on informing the world about the might of the German Army.

Here in Ghana, the late President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah saw information as key to the success of his government, and so he established the Information Services Department (ISD) and equipped the outfit with all the necessary tools of information to carry outs its duties.

In those days, we used to have the Mobile Cinema of the ISD. The main purpose of the Mobile Cinema was to get to other remote areas of the country to propagate the good works of the Osagyefo through cinemas and announcements. In the evenings, these Mobile Cinema vans will fix their equipment at the village square after announcements have been made for the townsfolk to come and watch cinema.

Cinema was not common so, chiefs, old men and women, teachers, pupils and children will troop to the place to watch the cinema.

When the Akosombo Dam was being built, these Mobile Cinema vans went around the country to show how the dam was being built. We were also shown how the Tema Motorway was being built, and as villagers who travelled on feeder roads, we saw the Tema Motorway as Dr. Nkrumah's magic. Many projects which were located in other regions were shown to us and we were happy even though the projects were not located in our region.

We were made to believe that similar projects will soon come to our doorsteps. So we sung “Nkrumah Show Boy” in praise of the Osagyefo.

When Mr. Kufuor took over power, he followed the footsteps of Dr. Nkrumah and equipped the ISD with cinema vans and accessories to do the same job that was done in the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. They started well by informing the people about certain projects and decisions of the government.

Sadly, when the NDC took over power, they abandoned the project and one van after the other broke down until there was no van left for the ISD to do its job. This is Ghana for you! Anytime I tune to certain TV stations and hear NDC hirelings lambasting the government on topics that they are ignorant about, I pity them. I sometimes ask myself: “What are the NPP communicators too doing to set records straight?”

And anytime I hear Mr. Oppong Nkrumah speaking English at his usual press conferences, I laugh. The guy is wasting his time. Majority of his target listeners are illiterates who even though own television sets, do not understand what he is saying. The problem we have with some of our leaders is that they think Accra is synonymous to Ghana. So they sit in Accra and speak big English thinking that they make a point.

I must admit that Mr. Oppong Nkrumah is good as far as informing the public about government decisions are concerned, but his message does not sink in when it comes to listeners in the rural areas. And these are the people the NDC propaganda targets.

As for the NPP communication officers in both the constituencies and the regions, they are total failures. Relying on them to communicate for the party is suicidal. The best thing to do is to reorient them in other to make them understand their job. All what they know is Free Senior High School, Teacher/Nursing Trainee Allowances, and School Feeding, as if these are the only success stories of the government.

Even those in the Northern Region close their eyes to the Tamale Interchange, the first of its kind in the Northern Region since independence. When nominations of constituency and regional executive officers positions are opened, you will see them rushing to get appointed to such positions which they themselves know they are not good at.

The President was very right when he said recently that the communication outfit of his government was not clicking. This is not the first time I am writing about government communication and this will not be the last because the NDC is out there misinforming the people.

Take the issue of chartered plane for example. The NDC is making it look as if Nana Akufo-Addo is the first President to charter a plane when they know former President Mahama also chartered planes on some of his numerous travels when he was the President of Ghana. The NDC is out there telling whosoever cares to listen that Nana Akufo-Addo bathed in a chartered plane as if that is a big deal.

NDC propaganda is poison and there is the need to dilute it. Is Oppong Nkrumah listening? I hereby, tender my application as a consultant. Meanwhile, I am on my way to my maize farm to contribute my quota in the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, with a stick of brown Bull cigar firmly fixed between my lips.

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By Eric Bawah