The honourable member of Parliament for North Tongue Constituency has once again, called for the amendment of Ghana’s Presidential Act.
This comes after the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo submitted to his annual report to Parliament on the staffing position at the Office of the President, two months after the legal deadline.
Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act requires that...
The President shall within 3 months after the end of each financial year submit to Parliament an annual report containing the following information—
(a) the number of presidential staff employed at the Office;
(b) the rank or grade of such staff; and
(c) employees in the other public services assigned to the Office.
Commenting on the report which was laid in Parliament two months after the legal deadline, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa expressed a number of concerns.
According to him, to have the total staff strength increase from 934 in 2020 to 995 in 2021 out of which a massive 337 are political appointees, particularly, under the current economic crisis is awfully insensitive and manifestly wasteful.
He said that an important addendum is the fact that all 337 political appointees at the Presidency, including the Church Relations Manager, Church Diaspora Mobilization Officer and the Youth Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs have all been categorized as public office holders under Article 71 of the 1992 Constitution for full benefits.
Honourable Ablakwa further noted that the number of appointees now exceed that of the 275-Member Ghanaian Parliament which is always at the receiving end of considerable anti-Article 71 agitation, adding that he has also advocated for Article 71 reforms and a larger constitutional overhaul for some time now.
Section 4 of the Presidential Act further requires that…
(1) The President shall, acting in consultation with the Council of State appoint such persons as he considers necessary to hold office as presidential staff in the Office.
(2) The number of persons that may be appointed under subsection (1) of this section and the grade of the officers shall be determined by the President.
The Lawmaker further wondered if the President did comply with section 4 (1) of the act.
‘Respectfully, just asking: Section 4 (1) of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463) stipulates that the Council of State must be consulted by the President in making all appointments at the Office of the President — so did the Council of State agree to the now notoriously infamous positions of Church Relations Manager? Diaspora Church Mobilization? Youth Ambassador for Diaspora Affairs?“
“Or is it the case that they advised President Akufo-Addo against these appointments but he still went ahead since our courts have ruled that the Council of State’s pieces of advice aren’t binding?“
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa also refuted claims suggesting that the infamous Church Relations Manager is probably in charge of President Akufo-Addo’s National Cathedral project.
“For the avoidance of any further doubt, at page 15 of the report, President Akufo-Addo has already appointed Dr. Paul Opoku-Mensah as Overseer of the National Cathedral.”
Read Also >>> COMPARED WITH 2020, WE HAVE 26 MORE POLITICAL APPOINTEES; AN OVERALL JUMP FROM 934 TO 995 AT THE PRESIDENCY – ABLAKWA LAMENTS
“As I have often stated in Parliament for more than 8 years and counting, it is long overdue to amend the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463) with the view of imposing a cap on the number of appointees any President can engage at the Office of the President.“
See his post below>>>
Read Also >>> GHANA’S PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE ACT 1993, ACT 463
