President Mahama explains reasons for scrapping Ministry of Information

President John Dramani Mahama has clarified his decision to dissolve the Ministry of Information in his current administration. Through an Executive Instrument (E.I.) signed on Thursday, 9th January 2025, the President restructured his ministries, reducing their number from 30 to 23.

Key changes included splitting the Ministry of Youth and Sports into the Ministry of Sports and Recreation and the Ministry of Youth Development and Empowerment. Additionally, the removal of the Ministry of Information sparked varied reactions.

During a meeting with the leadership of the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) on Wednesday, 22nd January 2025, President Mahama explained that the decision aligned with his campaign pledge to establish a lean government of only 60 ministers.

He elaborated on the introduction of a Minister of State in charge of government communications.

That was partly in response to our promise to downsize government, but then it also meant that we had to be very strategic. We dealt especially with the flow of information from government because that's critical to the success of whatever we intend to do. And so we, the structure we put was to bring information into the presidency.

He added:

That’s how come we have a Minister of State in charge of government communications. And then to make sure that we're able to anchor it with a string of strong communications professionals in the most critical sectors so that we're able to guarantee as much information flow to the public as possible.

President Mahama also outlined plans to restructure the Information Services Department:

One of the things that remain to be done is to bring the Information Services Department under the presidency and modernise that organisation from a civil service organisation into a modern organisation that gives guaranteed information flow to the public in respect of whatever government is doing.

He continued:

That department must be reformed. You can bet that consultancy is right in your hands to see how we restructure ISD, how we restructure the Ghana News Agency. You know, I think that it will create a certain synergy, modernise these organisations.

President Mahama reaffirmed his commitment to collaborating with the IPR and other stakeholders to modernise government communication and enhance its effectiveness.

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