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Opinions of Sunday, 16 February 2014

Columnist: Sarpong, Justice

Presidential brouhaha: Kufuor had 613 staffers in 2008

As long as Ndc continue to engage in politics of equalization,propaganda, hypocrisy and grandstanding, Mahama administration will continue to be in doldrums since his mammoth Presidendential Staffers don't want to listen to any voice of reasoning. Rawlings called for reshuffling of the Ministers so that the dead weights in this administration can be jettisoned and immediately these baies with sharp teeth came up with ; "NOBODY CAN STAMPEDE MAHAMA INTO RESHUFFLING". When are these clueless and useless staff going to listen to good advice?

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Why is Ndc not quoting the Presidential staffers in 2008 which was 613 instead of the 2005? If Ndc wants to do comparative analysis, it should use the last year of Kuffour's government as the base year and not just choose any year they want to propaganda their failed government. Ndc promised us a better Ghana than what Kuffour gave us. Kuffour trimmed the Presidential staffers from 696 to 613 which was still too many and instead of reducing it further, the number of

Presidential staff number is rather inching up. It is not like the Ndc don't have the numbers for 2008 Presidential staff so why did they use the 2005 numbers as evidenced here by Information Minister, Ayariga.

"Mr Ayariga also classified the reason for the high number of staffers under John Mahama's Presidency. He recalled that in 2003, the number of Presidential staffers was 696 and in 2008, the size was 613. In 2012, the size was 661 and now it is 678"

You can get the above information from yesterday 02/13/2014 news on Ghanaweb under the title;

"678 Presidential Staffers not costing the state-Ayariga

In 2008, Kuffour trimmed the number from 696 to 613 so why is Ndc not informing the public about Kuffour Presidential staffers in 2008 which should have been the point of reference and not the beginning of his second term in office in 2005.

This nonsense by Ndc should stop. Believe me, nobody would have cared about the number of Presidential Staffers if the economy was doing good.Why is that we did not complain about this in 2005 but it has now become a problem? In 2008, the government expenditure on government workers salary and wages was GHc1.98 billion a year, now it is GHc4.25 billion so in essence, it is how much being paid that is important. The salaries of Presidential staff has trippled from 2008 compared to 2013.

How can we have 47 Gardeners on the Presidential staff and still debris are strewn on the forecourt of the Flagstaff house? What do they do everyday? Can't we assign at least five of these Gardeners to pick trash on the grounds of Flagstaff house everyday instead of the eyesore of debris flying around at the seat of government when these supposed Gardeners sit inside the Fkagstaff house practically doing nothing and collecting pay checks.

Ndc should stop this politics of equalization and bunker mentality they have adopted to counter all their failures. "Ghanafuo ato aba fon paa" and I hope they correct this mistake they made in 2012 and vote for people with proven record instead of playing "chacha"(kyakya) with their lives with tribalism as a deciding factor in how they cast their votes.

Justice Sarpong

(CARDINAL of TRUTH)