The President has directed ministers he reshuffled recently to assume office at their newly assigned ministry on Wednesday February 8, 2012. In a communication to the Speaker read to the House Friday, the President formally informed Parliament about the reshuffling of some Ministers of State. The House during the week discussed the need for the President to formally inform Parliament whenever there is a reshuffle even though the President is not bound to do so. MPs who contributed to that debate argued that even though the President was constitutionally not required to inform Parliament, for the sake of good practices, it would be proper for him to communicate to the House in such circumstances. The communication to the House was therefore greeted with applause as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, commended the President for acting on a suggestion by the MPs. The communication also formally informed the House that the outgoing Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr E.T. Mensah, had been given an additional responsibility as the acting Minister of Education. The affected ministers are, Mr Alban Bagbin who is moving from the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing to the Ministry of Health; Mr Benjamin Kunbuor, moving from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Justice, while E.T Mensah is being moved to the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing. Meanwhile, a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Fifi Kwetey, yesterday told the House that the country’s total domestic tax revenue recorded a shortfall of 1.6 per cent in 2009. The target set, according to him, was GH¢4,705.66 million while the actual amount realised was GH¢4,628.66. Answering a question posed by the MP for Agona East, Mr John Agyabeng , Mr Kwetey explained that even though LPG, premix fuel and marine oil witnessed higher delivery volumes, there was a drastic reduction of about 90 per cent in excise duties on these products in 2009, leading to substantial shortfall in petroleum tax revenue realised during the period. He added that import duties also registered a shortfall of 9.8 per cent as a result of the non-restoration of import duty on rice, yellow maize, wheat and vegetable oil which had been factored into the year’s projections. “Madam Speaker, in spite of the fact that there was a shortfall relative to the target, the growth in total tax revenue in 2009 was significant at 17.5 per cent,” he stated.