Renowned media figure Nana Romeo has argued that vice and deputy positions should be abolished.
According to him, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has admitted that his subordinate position has limited his work, which shows how redundant such jobs are.
Romeo further justified his view on the elimination of these jobs by citing Mark Okraku-Mantey, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture, as having little influence.
He claimed that Okraku-Mantey has fallen short of the aspirations of the creative arts sector, which he views as a serious problem.
We won’t let a plethora of detractors stop us from presenting the evidence. The ineffectiveness of vice and deputy roles has been demonstrated by the present NPP administration. In my opinion, these roles are superfluous if the vice president acknowledges that he lacks authority and is therefore ineffectual and if Okraku-Mantey, the deputy minister for creative arts, says nothing.
“They always say they are helpless when someone questions them. Why keep them in their roles if they are benefiting from them all? When Okraku-Mantey is faced with a problem, she occasionally gets agitated. It seems that the NPP administration is insensitive to criticism,” he said in Twi on MzGee’s United Showbiz on UTV.
Stakeholders in the entertainment business have criticized Okraku-Mantey in the interim, expressing displeasure with the former producer’s slow progress in growing the creative arts sector. Shatta Wale and Hammer of The Last Two Music Group are among the celebrities who have criticized Okraku-Mantey.
The “driver, mate” comparison by Bawumia
In his first significant speech as the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer, Dr. Bawumia restated his assertion that his position in the government is similar to that of a “driver’s mate” at an address outlining his vision for Ghana on February 7, 2024, at the UPSA auditorium in Accra.
Even though he was currently the driver’s mate, he emphasized that “if, by the Grace of God, you make me President, I will be in the driver’s seat with constitutionally mandated authority to pursue my vision and my priorities.”
Some contended that he chose that course of action in an attempt to distance himself from what they perceived as the “poor performance” of the current administration.
