Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has lamented the continuous failure of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to furnish Parliament with the list of presidential staffers as required by law.
This is the second time this month that the Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs is raising the issue of the President’s non-compliance with the Presidential Office Act.
In early April, Ablakwa raised the matter on the floor of Parliament accusing Akufo-Addo of “violating the laws of our country in such a violent manner.”
His most recent demand was via his social media handles when he asked whether the President was hiding anything from the public.
“Prez Akufo-Addo refuses to comply with the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463) by defiantly not submitting his 2021 list of presidential staffers to Parliament despite the March legal deadline.
“What is he hiding?” the MP quizzed rhetorically before adding: “Elsewhere, PM Boris Johnson paid a fine for breaking the law.”
What Ablakwa said in Parliament in early April
“Section 11 of Act 463 of the Presidential Office Act states relates to an annual report and it provides … ‘the President shall within 3 months after the end of each financial year submit to Parliament an annual report containing the following information; the number of presidential staff employed at the Office, the rank or grade of such staff; and employees in the other public services assigned to the Office.
“Mr speaker today is the 1st of April, the president is in clear breach of the Presidential Office Act … we cannot accept this as a House. If this delay continues, it undermines the authority of this institution.
“I recall that virtually every year the president is in breach of this provision and I have to be screaming and crying and yelling before the presidency will comply.
He added that it is baffling that it takes a lot of effort to get “the President who likes to project himself as a paragon of the rule of law to be violating the laws of our country in such a violent manner.”
