The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has announced plans to merge the Transport, Aviation, and Railways ministries into a single ministry if he wins the upcoming December elections and assumes the presidency.
“It is not only the Sanitation Ministry, in Transport, Aviation and Railways, we are going to close them down and send them back to the Transport Ministry. We are going to combine Communications and Information again. So we want to reduce the number of ministries,” he announced.
He also announced his intention to dissolve the Sanitation Ministry. Mr Mahama criticized the ministry’s performance, stating that it has failed to fulfil its responsibilities and has led to the wastage of scarce resources.
Mahama expressed disappointment at the current unsanitary conditions in the country, asserting that they have worsened since the establishment of the ministry, which he deemed to be ineffective.
“We will close down the Ministry of Sanitation, one, to reduce expenditure and two, I don’t see any use. The country is dirtier than when there was no Ministry of Sanitation.”
“Indeed, this country was cleaner when sanitation was under Local Government than as a standalone ministry and we will close that ministry and we will take the Sanitation schedule back to Local Government because we want to reduce government expenditure.”