President Mills swears in nine new Ministers of State
President John Evans Atta Mills has charged Ministers of State and other government appointees to work harder ahead of election 2012 to ensure a resounding victory for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
President Mills made the call when he formally swore into office nine new appointees made up of six Ministers and three Deputy Ministers of State on Friday in Accra. He told them that they had to apply themselves diligently to the positions given them.
The President said the people of Ghana expected nothing from the Ministers but to work to improve their standard of living, reminding them that the NDC as a social democratic party was committed to uplifting the status of the weak, the vulnerable and the defenceless.
The six new Ministers are Mr Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam as Minister for Employment and Social Welfare; Mr William Kwesi Aboah, former Acting IGP as Minister for the Interior; Mr Lee Ocran, immediate past High Commissioner to South Africa as new Minister of Education; Mr Frizt Baffour, MP for Ablekuma South as Minister for Information; Mr Dominic Azimbe Azumah, MP for Garu Tempane as Minister of State at the Presidency and Mr Amin Amidu Sulemana immediate past Ambassador to Egypt as Minister for Upper West Region.
The Deputy Ministers are Mr Stephen Ackah, MP for Suaman as Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development; Mr Isaac Vanderpuiye as Deputy Minister for Greater Accra Region and Mr Henry Ametepey as Deputy Minister for the Volta Region.
They took the Oath of Allegiance, Oath of a Minister or Deputy Minister and Oath of Secrecy administered by the President.
They then signed the Oath Book and received the Instrument of Office in a form of a scroll painted in Ghana’s national colours of red, yellow and green; presented to them by President Mills.
President Mills congratulated them on their appointments, reminding them that it was based on the confidence government had in their ability to work to improve the lot of Ghanaians who elected the government into power.
He urged the Ministers to be committed to the oaths they took reminding them that no one was above the other and that teamwork was what was needed to execute the mandate the people had given to government.
Mr Henry Martey Newman, Chief of Staff at the Office of the President advised the appointees to quickly get themselves involved “in the nuances of a Minister,” and to assume their responsibilities with alacrity.
“You need to serve. You are in politics to serve the people who elected you,” Mr Newman said and assured them of government’s cooperation and support in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Moses Asaga, Minister for Employment and Social Welfare on behalf of his colleagues assured the President that they would work together with their colleagues to ensure that NDC retained power in the December 2012 general election.
Source: GNA