Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Economy and Development Committee and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, has detailed how the NDC’s Deputy Ambassadors‘ role is costing Ghanaian taxpayers millions.
The NPP MP disclosed that the NDC bigwigs who were snubbed of ministerial appointments are now being fed through the Deputy Ambassadors’ role.
He challenged the NDC government’s narrative of a leaner administration, arguing that a good number of senior party figures who were taken off the potential ministerial list of 2025 have since been appointed Deputy Ambassadors and Deputy High Commissioners.
According to Oppong Nkrumah, RTI documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs detail deputy ambassador costs, including a standardised US$3,639.58 monthly basic salary, US$150 clothing allowance, child and education grants, furnished residence, chauffeured vehicle, medical coverage, and domestic staff.
Ooppong Nkrumah further disclosed that the NDC’s 18 new deputy postings shows a recurring annual taxpayer costs are estimated at a minimum of GH₵9.7 million to GH₵25.6 million.
Oppong Nkrumah highlighted that government expenses were relocated rather than reduced.
In a post on X, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah detailed, “HAS THE NDC REALLY CUT DOWN THE COST OF GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES?
For months, the NDC government has worked hard to convince Ghanaians that it has reduced the cost of running government, pointing mainly to the smaller number of ministers it appointed.
Already, the government is debating why the costs of government machinery have ballooned since January 2025.
But there is another part of this story that has not been told.
A good number of the senior party figures who were taken off the potential ministerial list of 2025 have since been appointed Deputy Ambassadors and Deputy High Commissioners. What this means is that the extra cost (beyond what the government is trying to justify now) did not disappear. It simply moved from one line of the national budget to another.
So what does one of these deputy ambassadorial postings actually cost the taxpayer? To find out, I filed a Right to Information request in January. It was only in June, after I had threatened legal action, that the government finally responded. A delay of that length, on a straightforward question about public spending, tells its own story.
The official figures are now in (Case No. RTIC/AFR/25/2026), and this is what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself disclosed. I’ve attached a copy if you doubt.
WHAT ONE DEPUTY COSTS
Every Deputy Ambassador or Deputy High Commissioner is paid, in US dollars:
• Basic salary of US$3,639.58 a month, standardized across all missions
• Clothing allowance of US$150 a month
Those two items alone, which every deputy receives no matter where they are posted, come to about US$45,475 a year. That is roughly GH₵537,000 for one deputy, in one year.
On top of that, the Ministry confirmed further cash allowances:
• Child allowance of up to US$600 a month, for up to three children below 18
• Education grant of about US$583 a month (US$1,750 every quarter)
• Warm clothing allowance of US$83.33 a month for officers posted to temperate countries
Then there are the benefits the Ministry confirmed but would not put a price on:
• A foreign service allowance specific to each country
• An official, fully furnished residence, with no rent paid by the officer because the State carries the cost
• A chauffeured official vehicle, with driver, fuel, and maintenance
• Full medical cover for the officer, the spouse, and up to three children
• A domestic staff member
There are also official travel allowances and the cost of relocating each officer to take up post.
THE BILL FOR 18 NEW DEPUTY ROLES CREATED BY THE NDC
For the latest batch of 18 Deputy Heads of Mission created by the NDC, the new and recurring annual cost to the taxpayer works out as follows.
FLOOR: about GH₵9.7 million a year. This counts only the basic salary and clothing allowance, and nothing el
MIDPOINT: about GH₵12.9 million a year. This adds every other cash allowance the Ministry itself listed, namely the child allowance, the education grant, and the warm clothing allowance.
HIGH ESTIMATE: about GH₵25.6 million a year. This adds a conservative figure for the benefits the Ministry confirmed but would not cost. I have assumed only about US$5,000 a month per posting for the residence, the foreign service allowance, the vehicle, medical cover, and staff combined. In many capital cities, the rent on the residence alone comes close to that figure.
Remember that these are recurring costs. They fall due every year for as long as the postings last, and they do not even include the cost of relocating and setting up each officer. So you can multiply that by four years of a lean government.
THE QUESTION
If the people are largely the same, and the cost is higher than that of a minister, can we honestly say the cost of government has come down? Or has it simply been moved from the Cabinet table to our missions abroad?
These are not my figures. They are the government’s own, released under the Right to Information Act”.
See the post below:
HAS THE NDC REALLY CUT DOWN THE COST OF GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES?
— Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (@konkrumah) June 16, 2026
For months, the NDC government has worked hard to convince Ghanaians that it has reduced the cost of running government, pointing mainly to the smaller number of ministers it appointed.
Already, the government is… pic.twitter.com/cLRGQkwTLQ
