A former presidential staffer and current Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has described comments made by Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul, over the number of presidential staffers as false.
President Akufo-Addo has come under serious lambast for the 998 list of presidential staffers presented to parliament.
The release of the list is in compliance with Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463), which requires the President to submit annually to Parliament, a report on the staffing position of the Office of the President.
The breakdown was given as nine Ministers of state, 27 presidential staffers, 256 other/junior appointees and 706 employees of public/civil service staff.
But reacting to the concerns raised by some Ghanaians, Dominic Nitiwul told Accra based Joy FM that, majority of the staff at the Office of the President, was inherited from the former government.
Mr. Nitiwul says 678 of the current 998 Presidential staff was bequeathed to President Nana Akufo-Addo by former President John Mahama. However, Dr. Apaak, has rubbished the claims by the minister and questioned if he [Apaak] and other appointees that worked under Mahama, were part of the current list.
According to Dr. Apaak, the submission by Nitiwul suggested that he [Apaak] was still part of the list because the total number of appointees under Mahama amounted to 678 hence the claims by the minister was false.
Read below what the former staffer wrote”
Re: Mahama Left 678 of 998 Staff - Nitiwul:
False, poor Nitiwul, so you mean Myself, Stan, Kpessah, Chief Debrah, Madam Valarie, Karle, Nii Moi, etc are still working at FSH?
For your education, the 678 JM submitted to Parliament as list of his Staff at his Office included both political appointees, myself included, and public/civil servants.
NADAA's 706 public/civil servants alone dwarf JM's political appointees and public/civil servants combined, 678, and you say what?! Your 998 of 706 public/civil servants plus 292 political appointees is unprecedented.
You did not inherit, you created, just as you created 110 ministerial and countless CEO positions!