It appears the proverb that ‘cows are trapped by their horns, men are trapped by their words’, has come to haunt President-election John Dramani Mahama.
Mr. Mahama who earlier as president, had indicated that ‘last-minute’ appointments were in the best interest of Ghana when he was about leaving the presidency in 2017, has now made a dramatic U-turn, officially complaining about similar ‘last-minute’ recruitments.
THE CUSTODIAN has gone down memory to reproduce the two conflicting comments by Mr. Mahama to expose what political watchers have described as sheer hypocrisy.
Last-Minute Appointments In Ghana’s Interest – Mahama
(December 29, 2016 citifmonline.com)
President John Dramani Mahama says he is optimistic recent developments surrounding some of his decisions ahead of the inauguration of the new government, will be resolved before he hands over power.
John Mahama has been heavily criticized by a section of the public over his recent appointments and approval of salary increments for some group of Ghanaian workers few weeks to leaving office.
But according to him, all the decisions were made in the larger interest of the country.
Speaking to representatives of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference who called on him at the Flagstaff House on Wednesday, President Mahama insisted that, even though he had lost the recently held national elections to the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, he remained the President and was responsible for steering the affairs of the country until he officially hands over power on January 7, 2017.
“We are looking forward to the inauguration. The transition has gone smoothly so far and we have engaged each in utmost good faith. Our democracy is evolving and so there are some constitutional issues that definitely has come up as to whether a President is still a president even after he has lost an election until the midnight of the inauguration. But I believe convention or legality might answer those questions.
“So for whatever we agree to do, we set the pace for the future and so we’ll continue to work together for the greater interest of Ghana,” Mahama said.
President John Dramani Mahama has also given the assurance that he will hand over a peaceful and stable Ghana to his successor; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, come January 7, 2017.
“I inherited a peaceful and stable country from my predecessor, the late President John Evans Atta Mills and will also hand over a peaceful and stable government to my successor, the President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”
‘Mahama swears-in Commissioners for NCCE, CHRAJ’
Earlier this month, President Mahama swear into office Mr Joseph Whittal as the new Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
The Commission had been without a substantive Commission for almost a year, following the removal of the previous commissioner, Lauretta Vivian Lamptey over allegations of corruption.
He also swore into office, a new director for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE). The new director, Mrs. Josephine Nkrumah had been the deputy Commissioner at the NCCE for almost two years.
He also appointed a new Auditor General, and increased allowances for service personnel by sixty percent.
Last-Minute Contracts, Mass Recruitments Worrying – Mahama
(December 13, 2024- graphic.com.gh edited)
President-elect John Mahama has expressed concern over reports of last-minute mass recruitments and contract signings by the outgoing government, warning that such actions could create liabilities for the incoming administration.
Mr. Mahama stated that these recruitments and contracts, if unchecked, would impose undue constraints on the incoming government’s resources and priorities.
“There are also reports of last-minute mass recruitments into other agencies, which will be a liability to the new government. That’s something we’ve asked the transitional team to address,” he said.
The President-elect also raised alarms about contracts being signed by certain state-owned enterprises in the final days of the outgoing administration, which he believes could unnecessarily tie the hands of the next government.
He noted that he had directed his side of the Presidential Transition Team to take up the matter.
President-elect Mahama said this when Madam Harriet Thompson, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, paid a courtesy call on him in Accra on Friday, to congratulate him on his victory in the December 7 polls.
He said there were a few signals that had been raised at the sitting of the Presidential Transition Team in respect of some contracts that some government agencies were trying to sign off at the last-minute, which would commit the new government even before it does come into office.
He said this was something that they had raised a signal about and that it was hoped that the Joint Transition Team would take a look at it and deal with it.
“There are also reports of last-minute mass recruitments into other agencies which would be a liability on the new government, and so, that’s something we’ve asked them to take up at the Transitional Team meeting and see how we can deal with those issues and otherwise,” President-elect Mahama said.
He said that his new administration upon assumption of office would be happy to begin some multilateral and bilateral discussions on the economic cooperation between Ghana and her international partners.
The President-elect noted further that the United Kingdom (UK) was particularly a historic partner to Ghana in terms of their joint history and so they would be happy to look at what the cooperation was.
He said his administration’s priorities were restoring economic stability, which was absolutely the first priority and the second was restoring economic growth and creating more job opportunities for young people.
“We do have some emergencies we need to deal with and that is the energy sector. It’s the actual scheme of the whole economic recovery effort,” he said.
“If we do not do something about the energy sector it could crash everything that we’re doing; so as quickly as possible we want to look at whatever assistance we can get in looking at the whole energy value chain and making sure we have a more sustainable energy sector going forward.”
The President-elect said whatever their partners could do to be of assistance both in terms of technical cooperation and in terms of resource mobilization, he thinks it was something they would like to look at; saying “aside from that I think so far so good.”
The President-elect said the cooperation they were expecting was one of something growing.
He thanked the UK for the support and cooperation before, during and after the 2024 general election, which ended successfully.
On his part, Madam Harriet Thompson, the British High Commissioner in Accra, congratulated President-elect Mahama on his victory in the December 7 polls.
She also lauded Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for conceding to President-elect Mahama and the conciliatory tone of the latter’s response to his concession as well.
The High Commissioner further reiterated the UK Government’s commitment to supporting the incoming Mahama administration through its tenure; stating that the relationship between the UK and Ghana was a really an important one.
