Ministerial Appointments and Government Expenditure in Developing Democracies: A Case Study of Ghana’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

Every government desires to be efficient to be able to provide basic services for the total welfare of the citizens they seek to govern. But what makes for an efficient government? Big or small-size government? This issue reflects widespread criticisms of governments in Ghana under the Fourth Republican dispensation, name, that these governments have through ministerial appointments unduly expanded the frontiers of the state while at the same time touting the virtues of privatization. Indeed, the constitutional provision that empowers governments to appoint ministers, section 78 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992, does not set an upper limit. As a result of this constitutional lapse, governments have appointed too many ministers culminating in the increase in the size of government. Using Ghana as a case study, but with emphasis on the Fourth Republic, this paper examines the concept of big government and its effects on government expenditure. It also makes appropriate recommendations for a small sized government capable of delivering quality services to the people without incurring much cost to the state and the entire citizenry.