Minority demands full list of presidential staffers from government

The Minority in Parliament wants government to furnish them with the full list of active presidential staffers.

According to them, the government had delayed in presenting the list as required by the Presidential Office Act although they have spent 10 months in office already.

A presidential staffer under the Mahama administration and Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Clement Apaak, in an interview on Eyewitness News, said that although government cannot be accused of breaching the law, it will be in the best interest of the presidency and parliament to have the list in order to guarantee transparency and accountability.

“It is a requirement per the Presidential Office Act 1993, that the office of the president should furnish parliament with the full list of persons working at the presidency and that includes presidential staffers…. We are not saying that government has breached the law…. But we believe that at this time the government has settled in and all the staff that the presidency needs to be able to function to its optimum is in place, and therefore the time has come for us to know who they are and what positions they occupy,” he said.

Clement Apaak, who has filed a question in parliament directed at the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu on the matter, added that making public the list will help stop the activities of unscrupulous persons who impersonate presidential staffers to defraud unsuspecting Ghanaians.

“Full complement to allow us to assess matters to do with expenditure as far as the presidency is concerned, and matters of accountability and transparency… It is in the interest of the Presidency to make this list available to ensure that people do not use the name of the office of the presidency to engage in acts of fraud and acts that are untoward,” he said.

About 10 months into his governance, President Akufo-Addo has only presented the list of his key his administrative staffers at the Flagstaff House.

The staff are Frema Osei-Opare as his Chief of Staff, Nana Bediatuo Asante as his Executive Secretary and Eugene Arhin as Director of Communications.

Others are;

Brigadier General Emmanuel Okyere – National Security Advisor

Lord Commey – Director of Operations at the presidency

Frema Osei-Opare – Chief of Staff

Francis Asenso Boakye – 1st Deputy Chief of Staff

Abu Jinapor- 2nd Deputy Chief of Staff

Ambassador Hassan Ahmed – Director of State Protocol

Saratu Atta – Special Assistant to the president

Joshua Kyeremeh – National Security Coordinator

Kan Dapaah – Minister for National Security

Victor Newman – Director of Research

Clara Napaga Sulemana Tia – Presidential Staffer

692 employees at Office of the President

In 2015, it was revealed that the Mahama government had 692 employees at the presidency as of December 2014.

They included 24 presidential staffers, and 43 caterers, 36 stewards, 54 drivers, 14 night-watchmen, 2 caretakers, 22 sanitary labourers, 3 other labourers, and 85 cleaners as Household staff at the presidency.