President John Dramani Mahama has clarified that his administration currently has only 30 political appointees at the presidency, emphasizing his commitment to lean governance and the efficient use of public resources.
His comments were made in response to accusations from the Member of Parliament for Damongo, Samuel Abu Jinapor, who claimed that Mahama had failed to honor his promise of a lean government by allegedly exceeding the pledged 60 ministers and appointing over 100 staffers at the presidency.
Speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of 13 deputy ministers, President Mahama reiterated his administration’s intentional efforts to minimize appointments at the presidency.
He further highlighted the significant difference in the number of appointees when compared to the previous government.
“The same commitment to composing a lean government has found expression in the appointments made at the presidency so far. I have appointed 27 presidential staffers to various roles and three persons as directors of important governmental initiatives. Bringing the total number of political appointees so far to 30. This list of 30 is pending approval from the Council of State.
“At the last count, there were 336 political appointees at the presidency under the previous government. While we are in the process of recruiting supporting staff to enable the full functioning of our presidency, the numbers will come nowhere near the army of people that were hired under the previous government,” he stated.
