998 Presidential staffers: CDD disappointed in Akufo-Addo

The Center for Democratic Development (CDD)-Ghana, has expressed deep disappointment in President Akufo-Addo’s decision to continue the trend of overstaffing at the Presidency, given the public concerns raised over his appointment last year of 110 Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Describing the number of appointments as ‘super-sized’, the center says it’s unpersuaded by the argument that the size of the President’s political staff is justified because the President has a big agenda to push through.

A statement issued by CDD-Ghana states that “the President championing a ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda, a vision many Ghanaians appear to have embraced, there is widespread expectation that the Presidency would lead the way toward that noble goal by signalling through its conduct an end to profligacy and an exceptional commitment to economy in the expenditure of public resources. CDD-Ghana is equally unpersuaded by the argument that the size of the President’s political staff is justified because the President has a big agenda to push through”

CDD also expressed disappointment in Council of State and Parliament for not intervening in the indifference of government to the fiscal cost of a super-sized presidential staff and retinue.

“Although the role of the Council of State in the staffing of the Presidency is, under the applicable statute, only consultative, the point of inserting the Council in the process is presumably to enable it counsel the President in its staffing decisions, including, we would expect, in the size, where it appears excessive.” it states