Nii Andrew Okaikoi, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary candidate for OKaikoi North, has urged President John Dramani Mahama, to as a matter of urgency to scrap the Ministry of Information.
According to Mr. Okaikoi, the Ministry of Information has “become outmoded” in the current democratic dispensation.
“I am not against any of those handling positions over there. In fact, the Minister of Information is my cousin, Okudzeto Ablakwa is a very good friend and I believe he would have performed much better as a young politician who finds himself at a place where he is making enemies even though he has good potentials…but critical analysis of the role of the Ministry now shows we are wasting public resources.”
“The Ministry of Information is now old fashioned, every government institution must be entitled to its own response…If the Information Ministry speaks now, it affects everything of the government, not leaving out the NDC party,” he said.
He added, “Let the Ministries speak for themselves…they must all have communication departments that will communicate their issues to the public and defend them when the need arise…They would be answerable to their shortcomings.”
Mr. Okaikoi noted that Ghanaians have now moved from a situation where anybody could just churn out information from government, to a situation where the citizenry can critically access information from different media and make informed decisions.
“Government issues must be dealt with by the communications directorate of the government, as well as the Chief of Staff and his deputies.”
He said it was time the government rather strengthened National Security with the requisite logistics and facilities to enable it to explain the government’s policies and directives to the public in a more efficient and effective manner as is the case of some intelligence agencies around the world.
“I know President Mahama has many things up his sleeves for the people of Ghana and I know that a critical consideration of what I have suggested will help not only the government but the party…we must streamline government communication.” he concluded.**
