President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has appointed the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mavis Hawa Koomson, as the caretaker minister of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).

This follows the resignation of the sector minister, Dr Owusu Afriye-Akoto, on Tuesday, January 10, to pursue his presidential ambition.

A statement issued and signed by the Director of Communications, Eugene Arhin, at the Jubilee House, and copied to the Ghanaian Times yesterday said the sector minister personally presented the letter of his resignation to the President.

The statement directed that Ms Koomson, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Awutu Senya East, would assume the role of caretaker minister until a substantive minister was appointed.

President Akufo-Addo conveyed his sincere gratitude to Dr Akoto for his services to government and to the nation, and wished him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

Dr Afriyie-Akoto, who is MP for the Kwadaso Constituency, presented his resignation letter to President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee house on Tuesday.

The move, according to close sources, was to allow him concentrate on his presidential ambition.

Dr Afriyie-Akoto's resignation follows that of former Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyeremanten, who resigned from the government last Thursday.

In Parliament, Dr Afriyie-Akoto held the position of Deputy Ranking Member and subsequently the substantive Ranking Member for the Committee on Food, Agriculture and Cocoa Affairs until 2017, when he was appointed the Minister for Food and Agriculture.