REDUCE CABINET SIZE – HAMUDUDU

By SIMON MUNTEMBA THERE is need to reduce the size of ministries from 28 to 18 to cut down on expenditure, Party for National Unity (PNU) President Highvie Hamududu has proposed. Mr Hamududu said a reduction in the size of ministries would entail that the budget for wages and personal emoluments for cabinet ministers is reduced from the current 50 percent to an acceptable 30 percent. He said in an interview yesterday that the government should continue finding ways of reducing expenditure to mitigate the effects of the current global financial crisis.Mr Hamududu said the size of Cabinet, or ministries in general, must be in line with the ratio of expenditures to the total output of the economy gross domestic product. As one of the options, Mr Hamududu said, the government should start trimming down the number of ministers, and Permanent Secretaries as a measure to reduce the cost of its operations. He said several ministries that are similar in nature can be merged to reduce the number of ministers. “For example, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries can be merged because it is one. Also Ministry of Mines and Ministry of energy can be combined to have one ministry,” Mr Hadududu said. Mr Hamududu argued that Government spends most of its collected revenue towards personal emoluments for cabinet ministers and other top government officials.