The Programmes Officer at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Dr. Franklin Oduro has called for the involvement of the public in the President's exercise of assessing his ministers at the end of the year.

This, he noted, will allow for transparency and public ownership of the process which will ensure that the right results and targets are met.

Dr. Oduro was reacting to the President's intended appraisal exercise of his ministers and how best it must be handled to ensure that the president gets results that reflect the true performance of his ministers.

According to him, the involvement of the public in the exercise will ensure that reports presented by ministers will be the true reflection of what is on the ground.

"I think for every appraisal process, there should be a means of verification to authenticate the degree that the information the person delivers is actually a true information which the evaluation is based on".

Describing the exercise as a "good thing" and commended the president for taking the initiative,  the Programmes Officer at CDD noted that it is important to always evaluate and assess the strength and weaknesses of the ministers in order to bring them in line with the president's vision.

He further pointed out that if ministers are to submit reports to the president, then it presupposes that there are certain indicators that the president will want them to report on.

Dr. Oduro is of the conviction that the appraisal system will not be punitive and will not lead to the sacking of any minister for low performances. It will rather identify the strength and weaknesses of each minister in order to improve on performances and to achieve goals.

President John Mahama will from December 17, commence assessing the performance of all sector ministers. This ministerial appraisal will be handled by a special policy department at the Flagstaff House.

Briefing journalists at the Presidency today, Deputy Information Minister, Murtala Mohammed, said the assessment will be based on many factors including the 2013 budget and the manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

" Ministers have submitted their report on their performances, which would be appraised. The presentation were done mindful of the vision of [the president], the manifesto of the NDC and budget that was presented for 2013”.

The appraisals followed the President's task to his ministers, some few months ago, to submit presentations regarding targets that they have set for them, which they were expected to achieve within the framework of the president's vision.

According to the Deputy Information Minister, from tomorrow, December 17, the appraisal team will deal with the sectors, one after the other, depending on the presentations that were made and the achievements of each of the ministries and agencies.

Meanwhile, Deputy Information and Media Relations minister, Felix Kwakye Ofosu noted that the performance appraisal followed from a lengthy process of engagement between the presidency, on one hand, and the ministers and other public officials on the other hand.