'I resisted pressure to react to Mahama's last minute decisions' - Osafo Maafo

The Senior Minister-designate has said he resisted pressure from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Transition team to react to last minute appointments doled out by former President John Mahama.

Yaw Osafo Maafo said he pleaded with the Transition team members who were agitating for a counter-reaction to aim for the smooth running of the transition process.

Speaking before Parliament’s Appointment Committee Friday, the economist said his argument was that “until the people (NDC) are out, you can’t see what is gone wrong.”

Mr Osafo Maafo who co-chaired the Transition exercise with former Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah said they agreed on some ground rules with the NDC transition team.

He said they agreed that “no employment [has to be done] immediately after the President has been declared, [and] there should not be procurement.”

But days after the Electoral Commission (EC) declared now President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as the winner of the polls, they kept hearing about critical decisions taken by the outgone National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

Former President Mahama made some key appointments thirteen days after he lost the December 7 Presidential election.

He appointed Joseph Akanjolenur Whittal as the head of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and Josephine Nkrumah as the boss of National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) on December 20, 2016.

The former President again appointed a World Bank official, Daniel Domelovo as the Auditor-General with effect from December 23, 2016.

These decisions of the former Ghanaian leader displeased the governing NPP Transition team who threatened to review them.

“We didn’t want to shout over these things, but naturally such things should be reduced as a matter of cause,” Osafo Maafo said.

According to him, if procurements done after December 7 could not be justified in terms of when it was commenced, where it has reached, they would abrogate them.

Mr Osafo Maafo said if they found out that people have been added to the nation's payroll after December, those people would be laid off "quietly.”

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | [email protected]