The Executive Director of the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has warned that awarding individual ministers for performance could undermine teamwork in government and complicate the President’s ability to manage his appointees.

Professor H. Kwasi Prempeh's comments come amid public controversy over the Ghana Ministers of State Excellence Awards, a scheme that has sparked widespread debate and prompted a response from the Presidency.

The awards, organised by Big Events Ghana, have drawn criticism from sections of the public who argue that assessing and ranking ministers outside official government structures raises questions about accountability, criteria and the broader implications for governance.

Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express Business Edition on Monday, Prof. Prempeh said the concept could create unintended consequences within government.

According to him, the awards risk interfering with the President’s constitutional authority to assess and manage ministers based on internal benchmarks and performance measures.

“Assuming, for example, that the President, who is probably contemplating a reshuffle on the eve of that decision, is met with an award designating a particular minister as the best minister,” he said.

He noted that a minister being celebrated publicly could simultaneously be under consideration for removal by the President.

“Meanwhile, that minister may well have been on the cutting block, on the president's cutting block, right by the president's own internal standards and benchmarks and other things.”

Prof. Prempeh argued that such recognition by external actors could make personnel decisions more difficult.

“This minister was probably going to be given the axe, and all of a sudden we have a third party with some private or whatever interest promoting this person as the one who, in their view, is the best minister.”

He said this “complicates presidential decision-making around personnel” and could affect how the President manages members of his team.

Beyond the issue of individual ministers, Prof. Prempeh expressed concern about the impact of such awards on the principle of collective responsibility in government.

He stressed that ministers do not operate in isolation but work together to deliver the President’s mandate.

“Ministers, even though appointed to particular roles and assigned particular roles, deliver on a mandate collectively, which flows from the president and also terminates with the president,” he explained.

He said effective governance depends heavily on cooperation and teamwork among ministers.

“There is this idea of collective responsibility, and there's a sense in which the ministers must work together as a team to deliver on the mandate of the executive.”

Prof. Prempeh warned that rewarding individual ministers could create incentives for personal branding rather than collective performance.

“When you begin to throw these kinds of perverse incentives that cause one or the other minister or some other ministers to begin to pursue solo projects in order to get personal glory, you can also undermine the teamwork that is at the foundation of this principle of collective responsibility.”

He maintained that the awards could weaken both accountability between ministers and the President and collaboration within Cabinet.

“I think these kinds of awards can have perverse incentives and can undermine the president's ability to properly manage his or her team,” he said.

While acknowledging arguments that such initiatives may be responding to public demand for measuring government performance, Prof. Prempeh cautioned that governance should not be reduced to competition among ministers seeking recognition.

From his perspective, the risks to teamwork, accountability and effective executive management outweigh any perceived benefits of crowning individual ministers as the best performers.

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Chasing glory instead of governance – CDD boss says ministerial awards encourage dangerous competition

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