President John Dramani Mahama has reiterated his commitment to running a lean government, revealing that only 30 political appointees currently serve at the Jubilee House.

He stressed that this approach is in line with his promise to reduce government spending and ensure greater efficiency in governance.

Mahama's remarks came in response to claims made by the Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, who alleged that his government had exceeded its ministerial and presidential staff appointments.

The President firmly rejected these claims, highlighting that the previous administration had 336 political appointees at the presidency alone.

President Mahama made these comments during the swearing-in ceremony of newly approved ministers and deputy ministers at the Jubilee House in Accra on Wednesday, March 12.

He further clarified that out of the 30 political appointees, 27 are presidential staffers, while three are directors of key government initiatives, all awaiting approval from the Council of State.

“The same commitment to composing a lean government has found expression in the appointments made at the presidency so far,” he noted.

“While we are in the process of recruiting supporting staff to enable the full functioning of our presidency, the numbers will come nowhere near the army of people that were hired under the previous government,” he assured.

“This week, I will submit the final list of four deputy ministers to achieve the full complement of sixty ministers that we promised, he stressed.

So far, 56 ministers have already been appointed and approved by Parliament.

The President expressed gratitude to Parliament for the swift approval process, which he noted is the fastest in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. 

“We have achieved the earliest approval of ministers by Parliament, enabling them to begin work on rolling out our commitments to Ghana. I wish to thank Mr. Speaker and the honourable members of Parliament for their support,” he added.