IMANI to Mahama: Separate Finance and Defence Roles—Ato Forson Must Focus on Ghana’s Economy!
Source: JoyNews
The policy think tank IMANI-Africa has asked President John Dramani Mahama to make Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson stop being the Acting Defence Minister at the same time.
The group warned that merging these portfolios could make it harder to keep an eye on the budget at a time when Ghana’s economy needs it the most.
Franklin Cudjoe, President of IMANI-Africa, made the request in a social media post that looked back on the first year of the Mahama administration.
His evaluation also listed the most important things that need to be done before big government projects start in 2026.
Cudjoe said that President Mahama has made a good start, but the Finance Minister needs to be fully focused on the upcoming “Big Push” projects to make sure that public finances are managed well.
Cudjoe said, “Please free Finance Minister Ato Forson from the extra job of Defense Minister so he can stay focused and keep being fiscally responsible.”
He stressed that Dr. Forson should be able to focus completely on managing the economy, keeping the budget in check, and overseeing the execution of the budget, especially since there will be a lot of capital spending in the near future.
Cudjoe said that putting too much pressure on senior officials makes it more likely that things will go wrong, that there will be problems with procurement, and that oversight will be weak. This is especially true for large-scale infrastructure programs.
He also suggested making the Cabinet Office stronger and hiring a high-ranking civil servant to be the Administrator-General or Assessor-General. This separate office would keep an eye on and do risk assessments on all major government projects.
Mr. Cudjoe said that proactive oversight would help stop corruption, cost overruns, and delays. He also said that Ghana can’t afford to go through another cycle of wasteful spending followed by investigations into accountability after the fact.
