The first step was taken on Saturday, just before the signing ceremony, when the ministries were created. Disappointingly, the principals elevated what one could have expected to be departments into ministries. This was done in a desperate attempt to have 31 ministries. For example, it is waste of resources to have the following as separate ministries: Prisons and Correctional Services, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Information Communication Technology, Public Works and Public Service.
Going by this ill-advised, duplicating and overlapping list and using the South African format of ministries, the principals should organise the ministries into clusters as follows:
1. Security, law and justice cluster: Defence, Home Affairs, Justice and Legal Affairs, Prisons and Correctional Services, Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs.
2. Foreign relations cluster: Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade.
3. Economic Cluster: Finance, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Industry and Commerce, State Enterprises and Parastatals, Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement, Mines and Mining Development, Environment, Natural Resources and Tourism, Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development.
4. Infrastructure cluster: Energy and Power Development, Public Works, Transport, National Housing and Social Amenities, Information Communication Technology, Water Resources and Management, Science and Technology Development.
5. Social services cluster: Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Health and Child Welfare, Labour and Social Services, Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Higher and Tertiary Education, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.
6. Intergovernmental co-ordination cluster: Public Service, Local Government, Urban and Rural Development, Media, Information and Publicity
Post published in: Uncategorized