[ 2016-12-13 ]

Transition office has no car, forced to use 'okada'
Ghana’s transition to a new government in
January 2017, may face serious challenges as the
office mandated to ensure a smooth process, the
Administrator General, lacks basic resources to
carry out its mandate.

The under-staffed office works without a car and
resorts to the use of illegal commercial
motorbikes popularly known as ‘okada’ to
undertake its activities.

This situation has persisted for many years in
spite of an amendment of the Transition Act in
Parliament in October this year.

Among the tasks of the office, is to take stock of
all government resources including cars,
bungalows, furnishing, and lands. But according to
David Yaro, the Administrator General, the office
is greatly handicapped.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to
do our work. The volume of work is such that, it
should have been commiserated by the resources,
unfortunately, we don’t have the resources. A
big office like that, we don’t have a single
vehicle to make movement. If I am to go and check
the authenticity of anything, I am crippled… I
don’t have a vehicle; and in my office most of
the time, we have to do dispatches with
‘Okada’ and taxis from our own pockets,” he
explained.

The office lacks the required human resource

Mr. Yaro lamented that, the office is also
understaffed. He said they were in dire need of
persons with IT skills to handle some operations
in the office.

“I have one director of administration and two
junior officers. So with this magnitude of work, I
need to have very easy and experienced officers to
be able to help me keep the database. I need an
ICT specialist and information officer and a
Public Relations Officer who can project the
office. I need a Human Resource Manager and all
these things as it stands now, I don’t have that
at all,” he said.

He said his office was yet to hear favourably from
the Ministry of Finance after an appeal.

He said the office required an integrated
technology system to enable it keep track of all
government purchases, such that records of state
assets are up to date to facilitate smooth handing
over to new governments.

“Right now, I only rely on the integrity of the
ministers and Chief Directors in updating the
records.

He therefore appealed to civil society and donor
organizations to support the office to work
effectively.

Section 9.1 of the Presidential Transition Act
requires the Administrator General to prepare a
natural register covering all national lands and
any other land vested in the president by the
Constitution.

Transition process will face several challenges
– Gyampoh warns

The concerns expressed by the office follows a
revelation by a governance fellow at the Institute
of Economic Affairs (IEA), Professor Ransford
Gyampoh, that the transition process was going to
face several challenges.

‘Mahama inaugurates transitional team’

President John Mahama on Sunday inaugurated the
government transition team comprising some members
of the governing National Democratic Congress
(NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The 16-member team is expected to account for
government resources, agree on the deadlines for
the vacation of official residences by government
officers and payment of benefits.

The team is jointly chaired by President John
Mahama and President-elect, Nana Akufo-Addo.

Source - Citifmonline

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