Israel Rejects Sierra Leone Government Model

Tel Aviv

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally bowed to pressure from the chairman of the Yesh Atid Party Yair Lapib, the leader of the Habayit Hayehudi Party Naftali Bennett and the Chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party Avigdor Leiberman and decided to considerably reduce the number of ministers in the new government.

Benjamin Netanyahu

According to sources in Tel Aviv that the Segbwema Blogger is in contact with, the number of cabinet ministers has been reduced to 20 with 8 deputy ministers. Before the election the Israeli government which is usually made up of a coalition of parties, consisted of 31 ministers and 9 deputies. Prime Minster Netanyahu's party Likud gets to have the majority of the ministers in the new coalition, though some Likud members likely to lose their jobs are very angry and have threatened to boycott the swearing ceremony of the new government, the 33rd government since the formation of the State of Israel.

Yair Lapid
Proponent of Small government

Talks to form a new Israeli government had stalled in recent weeks with the insistence by Yair Lapid that he will only join in a coalition if the number of ministers were reduced. Other partners also insisted that ultra-orthodox Jews who had long been excused from military service, should now be drafted into military service like every one in Israel. The new government is to overturn the privilege of exclusion from military service enjoyed by the ultra orthodox and military service will now be mandatory.

Naftali Bennett the leader of Habayit Hayehudi is to head the renamed Economics and Trade Ministry and is to head a special cabinet committee set up to seek ways to reduce the country's cost of living and break up the concentration of economic power in the hands of a few.

The Israeli model is in sharp contrast to the West African state of Sierra Leone where the number of ministers including deputy ministers is almost 60 with the excuse that problems of the country are so many that a small cabinet will be unable to function effectively. A claim that flies in the face of all contemporary economic thought and theory.

In Sierra Leone, not only is economic power concentrated in the hands of a few, but the bloated bureaucracy is so inefficient that even after five years of touting electricity projects as the major achievement of the current government, much of the country remains in darkness.

Sierra Leone Minister Alpha Kanu
Champion of Big Government

Freetown

In discussing the situation with some members of the Jewish Community Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Mr. Sheku Sheriff a development economist from Sierra Leone, noted that the insistence on a smaller government by Mr. Lapid would not only reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, but would also enhance the flexibility and capability of the government to deal with both economic and security threats more effectively, and with greater efficiency in the deployment of both economic and security resources. Mr Sheriff also went on to state that in a world that is bound to be confronted with increasing uncertainty, volatility, ambiguity and complexity, as the threat of climate change, population growth and terrorism become part of the new world order, leaders in developing countries need to adopt new skills to face these challenges. There should less emphasis on numbers and greater emphasis on capacity building and technological innovation.

Sheku Sheriff a patron of the Jewish Community center and an avid Jewish historian has received an invitation from the Jewish Community in Saint Paul to visit the State of Israel in 2013.