Economy can no longer bear the size of your govt – Bokpin tells Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo must reduce the size of his government as a way of dealing with the challenges facing the economy, an Economist and Professor of Finance, Godfred Bokpin, has said.

For him, the current challenges facing the country present an opportunity for the President to drop the number of his appointees.

He told TV3 in interview on Monday June 27 that the economy can no longer bear the size of the government.

“We know that the government size is big. Without development like [challenges facing economy] there will never be any incentive for you to cut down on government size. So this is the best platform.

“If you fail to do that now then, when are you going to get that done? Increasingly, it is obvious that the economy cannot bear the size of the government that we are running,” he said.

Recently, the Director of Research at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Dr John Kwakye, also asked the President to cut the number of ministers serving in his government.

Dr Kwakye believes this is one of the ways of reducing government expenditure during these difficult times the county is going through.

In a statement issued on Friday March 18, he said “Take urgent steps to reduce expenditure whose level and composition remain problematic.

“The measures should include the following ; restructure ministries and reduce the number from 30 to 20 reduce the number of ministers from 80 to 56 (Including 16 regional ministers).”

Meanwhile, Akufo-Addo has already reduced the number of his ministers from 120 in his first government, to 85 in his second administration.