Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Ransford Gyampoh says President John Mahama’s decision to reshuffle his regional ministers is a sign of confusion.

The President today announced a reshuffle of his regional ministers who will take up new positions on March 15.

For many of the ministers it will not be an entirely new position because it was the same regions they were initially appointed to, before they were reassigned.

For instance, Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo was appointed as Greater Accra Region Minister but even before he could occupy his office, he was reassigned and taken to the Volta Region. Several others suffered similar fate.

The presidency explained in a statement that the reassignment of the Regional Ministers had become necessary for "national cohesion."

According to government spokespersons, some of the appointees who come from particular regions would be accused of taking sides in conflicts already persisting in the region and that it was important to have neutral political heads.

One year after they were reassigned, the president only on Monday issued another statement bringing the regional ministers back to base- the region of their births.

This, Ransford Gyampo believes is surprising and confusing.

While respecting the right and the power of the president to reshuffle his ministers, he said he is unable to understand this reaasignment given the explanations that were initially given.

" For the initial reshuffle that took place, the reasoning or the rationale that was given by the president was to be a able to have a system in place that deals with tribalism and ethnicity and to also prevent a situation where chiefs and opinions leaders would always gang up to put pressure on the son of the soil who may have been appointed as minister and make him susceptible to all manner of corruption.

"So I am a bit surprised about the u-turn. People who hailed from a particular area now have been brought back to the area from where they were sent away.

"I think it clearly shows that the president is confused," he said.

But a presidential staffer Dr Kpessah Whyte is unimpressed with the remarks by Dr Gyampo and described the comments as unfortunate.

He explained that the ministers were appointed as "neutral arbiters" to regions they did not come from, because at the time, chieftaincy and ethnic conflicts were rife.

He said the ministers were tasked to put systems in place to ensure that these conflicts were resolved.

Dr Whyte believes majority of the conflicts may have been resolved and it was within the right of the president to reassign the ministers to their original base.

He said the president is on top of his job and must be allowed to carry out his duty.

He would rather Ghanaians concentrate on the provision of 200 Community schools.