Committee To Plan Transition In Place

A comprehensive preparation has been made by the government to ensure a smooth transition to the incoming administration.

Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs, Mr Kwadwo Mpiani, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on the transitional arrangement by the government, said a directive to all chief directors of the various ministries to prepare comprehensive reports for their ministers had been complied with.

Already, a Cabinet sub-committee on the transition, under his chairmanship, had been set up, he said.

Mr Mpiani said under a governance programme by the Ghana government, supported by the Canadian Government, a manual to serve as a guideline for a smooth transition had been prepared and the various steps outlined by the manual were being followed meticulously.

He said but for the run-off, the government's transitional team would have begun meetings with the team from the incoming administration for a smooth transition.

Mr Mpiani said the transitional arrangement would, among other things, involve comprehensive briefing on what the government had done so far, what remained to be done and what problems or issues required immediate attention.

In view of the run-off, which had eaten into the period for a smooth transition, the Chief of Staff said although the incoming

administration would be handed over power on January 7, 2009, as required by the 1992 Constitution, the transitional team from the outgoing government side and the newly installed government might consider extending the transitional period about a week or two to ensure comprehensive briefing and transition.

Mr Mpiani expressed the view that because of the possibility of a run-off in the conduct of a general election, the nation should consider the holding of polls in the first or second week of November, instead of the first week of December, to make more time for the transition in the event of a run-off.

Story by Nehemia Owusu Achiaw