678 Presidential Staffers Not Costing The State – Ayariga

Government says the huge number of supporting staff at the presidency does not translate into huge costs on the state.

A list presented to Parliament by the presidency on Wednesday revealed that close to 700 people work at the seat of government.

The list included Ministers of State, Presidential Advisors, gardeners, night watchmen, household staff, amongst others.

Concerns have been raised over the size of the number with fears government is failing at cutting cost.

Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga however says majority of the workers on the list have been employed through the Civil Service as required by law.

He explained that the 678 presidential staffers “reflects the general problem of the size of the public service that we can discuss. So let’s not create the impression that this is peculiar to the office of the President.”

Mr. Ayariga also clarified the reason for the high number of staffers under John Mahama’s presidency.

He recalled that in 2003, the size of presidential staffers was “696 and in 2008, the size was 613. In 2012, the size was 661 and now it is 678.”

According to him, during the Kufuor administration where the seat of government was at the Osu Castle, the staffers just had the duty of maintaining the castle because “Peduase wasn’t really functioning. It was Kufuor who came and rehabilitated it. The Flagstaff House itself was not in use because it was then under construction but now we have to maintained all those facilities.”

The Information Minister stated that there is greater efficiency on the part of the current government as compared to past government since there are more facilities to be managed and maintained.