President of IMANI Ghana Franklin Cudjoe has described the Development Authorities’ appointments recently announced by President Akufo-Addo as “job for the boys”.
The three Development Authorities – Coastal Development Authority, Middle Belt Development Authority, Northern Development Authority – are tasked with the implementation of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP) – the Programme which will ensure the disbursement of the equivalent of $1 million per constituency per year, in fulfillment of President Akufo-Addo’s 2016 campaign pledge.
A statement from the presidency announced the appointments on Saturday, April 14.
CEO of Accra-based radio station Samuel Atta-Mensah heads the Coastal Development Authority. Each of the Chief executives is being assisted by four deputies.
Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Monday, the outspoken policy analyst said the appointment of four deputies for each of the authorities is a waste of public resources
“Being in a hurry doesn’t mean you should do things that will affect our resources negatively. This country is a small one and we should be able to utilize resources wisely. The four deputy Chief Executives shouldn’t be existing in the first place. It is extra cost. If we have a poverty issue, we deal with it, we don’t deal with it by tossing the country, I see this as waste and job for the boys. Why would we have so many deputies? It’s more like a grand concert,” he said.
Also contributing to the discussion, a governance expert Dr. Eric Oduro defended the appointment of the four deputies arguing they may each possess certain unique skills.
“Of the 4 deputies, each of them may have expertise in a particular field which will help the CEO to achieve set goals. For the Coastal Development Authority, having four deputies is fine. The deputies will then have to work in the four regions and deliver”.
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