Former NPP General Secretary and presidential candidate hopeful, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, has promised to run a significantly smaller government and bring an end to abandoned public projects if elected president, arguing that waste and poor prioritisation have undermined public trust.
Outdooring his policies on Tuesday, January 20, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer hopeful said Ghana’s development challenges are worsened by bloated governance structures and a lack of discipline in public spending.
“The waste must end,” he said, insisting that government must begin to respect the value of public money.
Mr Agyepong said his administration would be run by a downsized cabinet of 19 ministers, supported by an equal number of deputies, alongside 16 regional ministers, bringing the total number of ministers to 54.
“The state machinery will be effectively and efficiently managed by a genuinely downsized government,” he said.
He argued that a leaner government would improve coordination, reduce cost, and refocus attention on delivery rather than politics.
Central to his fiscal discipline agenda is a pledge to complete existing projects before starting new ones.
“We shall make a sacred vow,” he said. “Complete all existing projects before starting new ones.”
He said Ghana can no longer afford a cycle where hospitals, roads and other infrastructure projects are started and left uncompleted.
“There shall be no more abandoned hospitals, no more uncompleted roads,” he said.
Mr Agyepong also proposed strict value-for-money audits in public procurement, drawing on what he described as his engineering background.
“We will institute rootless value-for-money audits in public procurement,” he said, adding that public expenditure must clearly benefit citizens.
He said restoring fiscal sanity is necessary to rebuild confidence in government.
“Public money is for public good,” he said.
Beyond completing projects, Mr Agyepong said his government would prioritise maintenance of public infrastructure, an area he believes has been neglected for decades.
“We will institutionalise a maintenance culture across public infrastructure,” he said.
The NPP aspirant said Ghana’s democracy has failed to deliver enough hope, pointing to unemployment, poor sanitation and weak public services as evidence.
“Democracy has not yielded the expected dividend,” he said.
He said the country’s current path has produced “a demoralised, despondent and disillusioned population”, and called for a reset in leadership.
Mr Agyepong urged NPP delegates to back his vision, arguing that both the party and the country are at a crossroads.
“One path is familiar. It leads to more despair, more of the same that has failed us time and again,” he said.
He said his alternative is a “new dawn” built on discipline, competence and integrity.
“The time for the new Dawn, a new direction and a new face is now,” he said, calling on party members to unite and move forward together.
