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Akufo-Addo directs MMDCEs to remain at post until further notice

President Nana Akufo-Addo has instructed all Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives to continue to stay in office until further notice.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

In a letter signed by the Chief of Staff, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, the President also warned the Chief Executives to desist from taking policy decisions.

The development comes in the wake of the legitimacy or otherwise of the President’sdecision to appoint acting ministers to serve until substantive ones are appointed.

In a separate communique President Akufo-Addo is expected to reconstitute statutory boards and corporations are expected to be reconstituted by or the relevant appointing authority “soon”.

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The notice states that all persons appointed by the President or a Minister of State to serve as members of the statutory boards and corporations ceased to hold that office from January 7, 2021.

However, representatives of the “constituent bodies on the statutory boards and corporations are not affected by this directive.”

Meanwhile, a private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, says it is legal for a newly-sworn in president to appoint interim ministers until substantive ones are duly nominated, vetted, and approved by Parliament.

The clear provision of the law, per the interpretation of the Supreme Court is that the President has power to appoint some persons to act as acting ministers pending nomination vetting and approval of substantive ministers.

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“But it makes sense that naturally, the President should be given some time to organise a new government, so in the interim some people should be giving the power to act,” he told Joy FM in an interview.

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