NPP’s Amoako Baah 'punches' Akufo-Addo; flaws his ‘outstanding appointees’ argument

Leading New Patriotic Party (NPP) member, Dr. Richard Amoako Baah, has responded to suggestions by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he sees no need to reshuffle his appointees because they have performed outstandingly.

Speaking on North Star radio, the president, while responding to calls for a reshuffle in his government following the recent economic crisis in the

Read full articlecountry, said that he is satisfied with the performance of his appointees and sees no need to heed the calls.

"Many of them, for me, have done outstanding work. Their output has been considerable, and that is what I look at," he stated.

But reacting to this in a TV3 interview, Dr. Amoako Baah punched holes in the president's argument. According to him, the president cannot suggest an outstanding performance by his ministers if these same persons have contributed to his government's failure.

For him, these two reasons nullify his explanations:
- Outstanding appointees wouldn't have gotten his government going to IMF
- There won't be nationwide strikes if his appointees were indeed outstanding.

"I don't know what he is using as the definition for outstanding. If you are outstanding, you don't go to the IMF; If you are outstanding, you don't get nationwide strikes; you don't do that.

"That, I'm sorry, is failure. The moment you go to the IMF, it means you've surrendered; it means, 'I can't do this thing'. It means, 'I need help'; It means, 'it's out of my hands' – that's what it means," he said.

"So if they have helped you to get into a ditch, you cannot say they are outstanding at the same time when you are at IMF – I'm sorry," he added.

Dr. Amoako Baah further suggested that the president may be hesitant to reshuffle his appointees because he has contributed to their underperformances.

"We all know that, and so most of these ministers, they don't get the resources they need to do the job, so how do you assess excellence or failure? That's part of the problem.

"So if you didn't give the person the tools he needed, the finances he needed, how do you fire him?" he noted.