VZCZCXRO6965
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHAR #0132/01 0501550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191550Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY ACCRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7583
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ACCRA 000132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/W 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: GH KDEM PGOV PHUM PINS PREL
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MILLS SWEARS IN FIRST MINISTERS AS 
PARLIAMENT CONTINUES VETTING PROCESS 
 
REF: ACCRA 00057 
 
¶1. (U)  Summary. President Mills has sworn in ten of his new 
ministers, in a ceremony where he asked them to give 
selflessly for the country and to avoid ostentatious 
lifestyles. An additional four ministers received 
parliamentary approval on February 18.  Parliament continues 
the process of vetting President Mills' ministerial 
appointments, with others expected to receive approval in the 
days ahead. Mills has already replaced his Ministry of Works 
appointee, Moses Asaga, due to Asaga's involvement in a 
controversial plan to award parliamentarians a substantial 
end of service package.  Mills' candidate for Foreign 
Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, was subject to opposition 
criticism for an unresolved 2004 report alleging his 
involvement in the loss of state funds.  Mumuni is still 
expected to be sworn in, however he is one of the few 
ministers not yet approved by Parliament. Mills' team 
represents a balance of regional, ethnic and religious 
interests, and includes a member of the People's National 
Convention Party, part of a deal to obtain PNC parliamentary 
support, necessary to insure NDC control of a closely 
balanced parliament. The first group of Mills' appointments 
were discussed in REFTEL; this cable continues with 
additional brief biographies. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni. 
Mumuni is a trusted confident of President Mills who was  his 
vice-presidential running mate during the 2004 race.  Mumuni 
was Minister of Employment in the Rawlings administration, 
and served as an MP, and prior to that, as a judge.  He is an 
attorney by profession. Mumuni's vetting by parliament saw a 
walkout by NPP committee members, in protest over a libel 
action he initiated against a newspaper for reports it 
carried about a 2004 report by the Auditor General accusing 
him of loss of state funds in the operation of his ministry. 
The report surfaced in 2004 when Mumuni became Mills' running 
mate, several years after he left the ministry. Charges were 
never brought against Mumuni, however, nor was he asked by 
the previous government to explain the alleged charges. 
Mumuni is a Dagomba, from the Northern Region. 
 
3.(U) Minister of Defense Lt. General Joseph Henry Smith 
(rtd.). Smith, age 63, is a retired career officer who served 
as Chief of Army Staff, Commander of the Second Infantry 
Brigade, Director of Military Training and commanding officer 
of the Field Engineering Regiment.  He was also Ghana's 
Military AttachQ in Washington from 1988 to 1992. Smith is 
respected by fellow officers.  He and Mills are close 
friends, a status that did not help the General's career 
during the NPP government, where he was passed over for 
assignments.  He has helped Mills to nurture ties with the 
military. Like Mills, he is a Fante, and was born in the 
Western Region.  Smith is married to an Egyptian and is a 
convert to Islam. 
 
¶4. (U) Minister of Finance Dr. Kwabena Duffour.  A respected 
economist, Duffour, age 66, was Governor of the Bank of Ghana 
from 1997 to 2001.  Duffour holds a B.A. in Economics from 
the University of Ghana and an M.B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from 
Syracuse University, where his doctorate was in International 
Finance.  He has banking experience, rising from Director of 
Research and Chief Economist to be Managing Director of the 
Ghana Commercial Bank, a position he held from 1992-1995. 
Duffour has in the past supported the Convention People's 
Party, but he has been a major NDC supporter since the 2004 
election.  He is well connected in international financial 
circles, and has a moderate, pro-business philosophy.  As 
head of the Bank of Ghana, the country's central bank, 
Duffour was widely acknowledged to have brought stability to 
the cedi.  Duffour is an ethnic Ashanti, from a region that 
voted heavily for the NPP during the December elections. 
 
¶5. (U) Minister of Roads and Highways Joseph Gidisu.  Gidisu 
is a teacher by profession, but has worked for the Ghana 
National Association of Teachers, a trade union.  He has 
served in parliament for three terms, representing a 
constituency in the southern Volta Region. Roads and Highways 
is a new ministry whose responsibilities previously were part 
of the Ministry of Transportation. 
 
¶6. (U) Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Albert 
Abongo.  Abongo replaces fellow Upper East Region MP Moses 
Asaga, whose nomination was revoked following a public outcry 
over Asaga's signing of documents authorizing end of service 
financial awards to former MPs and President Kufour.  Abongo 
is a first term MP, age 49, and a civil engineer.  By 
replacing Asaga with Abongo, Mills is able to keep regional 
and ethnic balance in his cabinet. 
 
ACCRA 00000132  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7. (U) Minister for Youth and Sports Muntakar Mubarrak 
Muhammed.  Mohammed is a second term MP representing Asawase, 
a Muslim majority constituency in the Ashanti city of Kumasi 
and the only NDC seat in the nation's second largest city. 
His appointment may be a calculated effort on the part of 
Mills to reach out to Muslim youth, particularly in urban 
areas, in order to maintain the substantial electoral support 
this demographic provided the NDC.  Mohammed has limited 
administrative experience, which could affect his performance 
in the job.  Muhammed participated in a recent State 
Department International Visitor Leadership Program for Young 
Muslim leadrs. He is an ethnic Dagomba. The Ministry of 
Youth and Sports is a new portfolio, merging sections 
previously housed in the Employment and Education Ministries. 
 
 
¶8. (U) Minister of Agriculture and Food Kwesi Ahwoi.  Kwesi 
Ahwoi is a technocrat, although one with particular influence 
with President Mills, as he is one-third of the Ahwoi 
brothers, a family that forms their own power block within 
the NDC. The Ahwoi family is a major financial benefactor of 
the party.   The Ahwoi's are believed to have recommended 
Mills as a potential vice presidential candidate to former 
President Rawlings, something for which Mills has been 
grateful ever since. Kwesi Ahwoi was director of the Ghana 
Investment Promotion Center under Rawlings.  He has a 
background in business and economics, and in recent years has 
been a consultant on privatization in Uganda.  Kwesi Ahwoi is 
a brother of Kwamina Ahwoi, who was a long-time Foreign 
Minister under President Rawlings. 
 
¶9. (U)  Minister of Information Sabah Zita Okaikwei. 
Okaikwei is a rising star in the NDC, although she failed to 
win election in 2008 to a parliamentary seat in Greater 
Accra.  She is an attorney with a reputation for being an 
able manager.  She is an ethnic Ga, and has the support of 
Accra's Ga leadership. 
 
¶10. (U). Minister of Health Dr. George Sipa Yankey. Dr. 
Yankey is an attorney, academic and administrator, although 
he has no previous experience in health care management. He 
was the Chief Executive of the Ghana Trade and Investment 
Gateway Program, a government office that offered tax and 
other incentives for private sector investment in Ghana. 
Yankey served in government under President Rawlings; he 
served time under President Kufuor, when he was jailed for 
crimes "causing a financial loss to the state" following a 
scandal involving a rice growing scheme. Yankey was released 
by President Kufuor in 2003, and received a full pardon at 
the end of 2008, allowing him to again hold high office. 
There is some question as to his actual involvement in the 
scheme. 
 
¶11. (U) Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture Alexander 
Asum-Ahensah. A teacher by profession, he is a second term MP 
representing a constituency in the Brong-Ahofo region. 
 
12, (U) Ministers at the Presidency Kalutie Alhassan and 
Azong Alhassan (no relation). Kalutie Alhassan, 61, is a 
newly elected member of Parliament. She is from the Upper 
West Region.  Azong Alhassan, 43, is also a first term MP, 
from the Upper East Region. He is also a member of the 
People's National Party (PNC), which draws its limited 
support from northern Ghana. Mills' decision to include him 
was part of a compromise to gain the support of the two PNC 
MPs, necessary to ensure that the NDC was able to have the 
barest control over Parliament.  We have little information 
about either minister.  While holding the title of minister, 
neither is expected to sit in the cabinet. Ministers at the 
Presidency often represent the President at ceremonial 
events. 
 
¶13. (U) Comment. The remaining ministers should be sworn in 
within the next week. Mills can now begin the consultative 
process necessary as the first step toward appointing deputy 
ministers. Under Ghana's constitution, the cabinet can have a 
maximum of nineteen members, including the President and Vice 
President, meaning that some ministers will not sit in the 
cabinet.  Mills has done a credible job of balancing the many 
competing interests in Ghanaian politics, such as region, 
religion and ethnicity, and the number of complaints about 
exclusion have been relatively few. End Comment. 
TEITELBAUM