President John Mahama has alerted all his political staff from the greatest to the least to stand by for “certain changes and/or re-assignments of portfolios in the Office of the President”.
In letters personally signed by the President and given to the appointees including the Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani, senior presidential advisers and aides, John Mahama thanked his team for their services rendered to his government and to Ghana.
It is not clear the precise changes, but Daily Graphic reports, one-time NDC flagbearer aspirant and Communications consultant Dr. Ekow Spio-Gabrah could be heading for the Presidency.
The Herald newspaper also reports that heavyweights such as senior Advisors, Dr. Nii Moi Thompson, Baba Kamara and Dr. Sulley Gariba, Executive Secretary Dr. Raymond Atuguba and former BBC presenter Ben Dotse Malor are untouchable.
But staffers Clement Apaak [pictured above], Michael Kpesah Whyte, Stanislav Xoese Dogbe may be axed.
Mahama has been criticized by the opposition NPP several times for making appointments deemed sub-standard.
According to former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Oquaye, Ghana is at risk of sliding further into more difficult times if President John Mahama does not take a second look at the quality of people he appoints into ministerial positions.
His comments follow developments over the last two months in which President John Mahama has been announcing changes in his government . The opposition has deemed his changes, piecemeal.
The new nominees, Mrs. Mona Quartey, a former board member of Universal Merchant Bank, will be heading to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as deputy minister. Mrs. Dela Sowah, MP for Kpando, for the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and Dr. Victor Asare Bampoe for the Ministry of Health.
Last Friday, former Deputy Chief of Staff, Alex Segbefia, was vetted by Parliament as Deputy Minister of Defence-designate, replacing Ebenezer Okletey Teye Larbi, who has been moved to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources as a Deputy.
President John Mahama spent last Christmas holiday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to mull over changes he intends to make in his government.
But an iconic placard at a middle-class protest march to the Flagstaff House on Republic Day, had a screaming inscription ” the King is naked..nobody tells him the truth”.
