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Reserve Defence Ministry Appointment For Ex-Military Chiefs - Kofi Kapito

By Bright Dzakah
General News Kofi Kapito
JAN 18, 2017 LISTEN
Kofi Kapito

The Chief Executive Officer of Consumer Protection Agency Kofi Kapito is advocating a shift in paradigm in relation to appointing a minister to man the country’s Defence Ministry. According to him, system where civilians are appointed to head the country’s defence ministry should be reconsidered as the practice which he considers as ‘putting square pegs in around hole’ should be stopped. Pointing out that appointing people who are not experts to head ministries is contributing largely to the underdevelopment of the country, since party people being appointed to those sectors contributed nothing or little to the sector. Kofi Kapito is therefore appealing to governments (present and future) to consider appointing at least a former military officer to head the Defence Ministry.

“Let me explain something to you, Ghana here we are lucky, elsewhere in the developed countries, civilian will not be appointed to head a security agency, how much more a whole defence ministry. It is unheard of; it does not work like that. Those that we say we are following (USA & Europe) in terms of democracy are not appointing civilians to the positions of security chief but Ghana the situation is different” Kofi Kapito asserted.

Consumer Protection Agency boss contended that the position of Defence Minister, whose duty vastly will be dealing with Military, should be reserved for a retired military officer or a senior most serving officer who is in the best position to understand the dealings and operations of the country’s defence mechanisms. “The fact that you hold position in parliament as Chairman or Ranking Member of the Defence Committee, is not an automatic guarantee that if your party form government you should be made the defence minister that is retrogressive” he said

Kofi Kapito maintained that his call is not against the nomination of MP for Bimbila Dominic Nitiwul has justified himself creditably as former deputy minority leader who also serve on various committees in parliament, as Defence Minister designate “I feel that it is time we give that position to people who were once in that field, Ex-Military officers just as it is done elsewhere. Let us put experts into our ministries that is all I am saying. I am not against appointment of my brother Dominc Nitiwul”

Ministry of Defence is the governmental department responsible for defending the Republic of Ghana from internal and external military threats and promotion of Ghanaian national defence interests. The Ministry of Defense political head is the Defence Minister of Ghana, which has its Headquarters located in Accra.

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