Staff of the Office of the President number up to nine hundred and ninety-five (995) as at 31st December, 2021.
This is contained in the annual report prepared by the Office, “Pursuant to Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993, (Act 463).”
The report, a copy of which has been sighted by myjoyonline.com, covers the following areas:
(i) The number of Presidential Staff employed at the Office of the President during the period;
(ii) The ranks and grades of these staff; and
(iii) Employees of other Public Services assigned to the Office of the President.
The break down is as follows:
a. Minister of State – 1
b. Presidential staffers – 44
c. Other junior political appointees – 292
d. Civil and Public Sector employees – 658
Employees of Public Sector Organizations assigned to the Office included: Civil Servants of various Classes (i.e. Administrative, Executive, Records, Secretarial, Budget, Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Presidential Household), as well as staff of the Department of Parks and Gardens, Ghana Health Service, Controller and Accountant General’s Department, Ghana Audit Service, Ghana National Fire Service, Public Works Department (Prestige), and Ghana Postal Company.
It would be recalled that on JoyNews‘ Newsfile on Saturday, the Member of Parliament for the North Tongu Constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa asserted that the inability of government to properly resource the Office of the Special Prosecutor can be attributed to the huge number of presidential staffers at the Presidency.
According to him, based on his findings and available documentation, President Akufo-Addo has a bloated staff at the Jubilee House, a situation which is affecting the disbursement of funds to other equally important agencies of government.
He noted that, the Office of the Special Prosecutor is one of such agencies that is suffering as a result of the overstaffing at the Presidency.
“Another subject of mine is the Office of the President in terms of the staffing. We are able to appoint all kinds of amorphous positions.
A church relations manager, a diaspora church mobilisation officer, overseer of the National Cathedral. If you come to page 24 of this report, we have youth ambassador for diaspora affairs, even though we have more than 60 embassies across the length and breadth of this world.
If you compare wages and salaries for 2022 at the Office of government machinery, it was 136.2 million. I’m reading from page 234 of the 2020 budget appendix 7. Due to all of these amorphous appointments in 2021, it has shot up to 823 million. From 136 to 823. So anybody should tell me that we can’t find money for the Special Prosecutor. This is an increase of 508%”, he lamented.