The Member of Parliament for Karaga Constituency in the Northern Region, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam is eager to know if there is an ideal number of ministers a Ghanaian government should have.

The Minister of State-designate for the Finance Ministry gave the retort when he asked on Tuesday if he thought the government needs a substantive Minister of Finance in this current economic crisis.

According to Dr Adam, no concrete number has been proposed as the ideal to guide the government in the appointment of ministers.

He explained that people have for years complained and asked government to reduce the number of its ministers but have never suggested the actual number government should appoint.

“Mr Chairman, I have heard over the last 20 years, people complain about the size of government and therefore, under every party in government, people have complained about the numbers.

“They complained about this under President Kufour, under President Mills, under President Mahama and today. What I haven’t heard is what the appropriate size of government should be”, he said.

Speaking before the Appointments Committee of Parliament for vetting on Tuesday, the Karaga MP said downsizing of government is not that easy and explained that reducing the size of government is a subject that needs proper deliberation before actions can be taken.

“And so that is a subject we can debate. Even as they are calling for downsizing of government, we need to ask ourselves what is government. Government includes Parliament and I have heard other people say that the size of Parliament is huge.

“So we need to debate as to what the appropriate size should be. Should it be benched-marked to the size of our budget, or should it be benched-marked to the size of our population? So this is a subject we can continue to discuss to determine the appropriate size”, Dr Adam stressed.

Dr Adam said that ministers are appointed by the President in the best interest of the country.

He said until the nation comes to an agreement as to the ideal size of government “every President will take a decision that reflects what he thinks is best to be able to carry out the functions of the State.

Commenting on whether it was apt to have replication of ministers in the same sector, the Karaga MP said “I think we need to put this in proper perspective. Downsizing is relative. For example, the number of ministers President Akufo-Addo had in his First-term is not the same as today. So to that extent, there has been downsizing.

“……….. And so if we have to debate and agree as a country that let’s bench-mark the number of ministers we have in any government to the size of the budget or let’s bench-mark it to the size of the population of our country, that in my view will be more scientific and (an) appropriate means of determining what the size of government should be”.