Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jr., says new Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, needs to be fair and firm if he is to succeed in his new role.
He said even though he has not had any personal encounters with the Chief of Staff and does not know his competences, he doubts if his liberal nature (as being portrayed by party members and his colleagues) will help him efficiently execute his mandate.
Speaking on Peace FM’s morning show ‘Kokrokoo’, Mr Pratt said the new Chief of Staff will have to toughen up for the new task and not treat it like a ‘party job’.
Local Government and Rural Development Minister, Julius Debrah was yesterday appointed Chief of Staff. He replaces Douglas Prosper Bani whose departure from the Flagstaff House was not unexpected.
He will be deputized by Jonny Osei Kofi, a grassroots NDC member who served as government appointee in the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly in 2013.
Mr. Debrah, before his appointment as Local Government Minister, was the Eastern Regional Minister and previously, head of the Ghana Tourist Board.
He became well known for his National Sanitation Day campaign which is aimed at clearing filth in the country’s cities, towns and villages.
However, Mr Pratt said the new Chief of Staff’s biggest headache will be how to handle exceptional ministers in government.
In his view, Mr Debrah will have some difficulties in managing ministers like Seth Terkper, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and Hannah Tetteh who have vast experience and knowledge in their respective fields.
“The job of a chief of staff is not a party job. It requires technical competence. If a technical memo of about 6 billion loan from China comes to him, will he be able to work on it? I don’t know him, but these are serious questions we need to ask.”
Mr Pratt has also asked the president to make public the status of the previous Deputy Chief of Staff, Valerie Sawyerr.
He said it was important, and in the public’s interest to know where she has been transferred to or if she has been fired.
Meanwhile, some aggrieved branch executives of the NDC, in the Volta region have given President John Mahama a two-week ultimatum to reinstate the dismissed Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani.
The branch executives believe their kinsman has been given a raw deal by the president and demanded that he reinstates Mr Bani or face their wrath.
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