Senior Minister’s Office – For those who do not know, The office of the Senior Minister headed by Yaw Osafo Maafo, was created by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo when he assumed office.
Parliament has now rejected the 2018 budgetary allocation for the office of the Senior Minister for its planned programmes and policies.
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The Parliament’s rejection of the allocation is on the grounds that the Senior Minister’s office was not a legal creation and therefore could not be allocated any funds from the national budget.
The leader of the Minority in Parliament Haruna Iddrisu championed the charge for the rejection. According to him, the Senior Minister’s office is expected to coordinate the activities of other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies and thus cannot be treated as a separate Ministry without legal backing.
Mr. Iddrisu cited the Executive Instrument (EI 28) Civil Service Ministry Statement 2017, signed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, which included all ministries except the office of the Senior Minister.
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The post he said is only being held morally and the president “must do what is legally appropriate to create the office by the Executive Instrument unless a different instrument is issued to that effect”
On that note, the majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said the office ought to be placed under the office of government machinery to ensure effective accountability.
President Akufo- Addo’s nomination of Mr. Osafo-Maafo as Senior Minister, was met with condemnations, with critics saying that it is a superfluous portfolio with no proper designation. The Senior Minister concept was first introduced during the erstwhile NPP administration under John Kufuor.
Some stakeholders including Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga had also argued that the creation of the office was unconstitutional.
But stakeholders in the likes of former minister Osarfo Marfo had defended the President Nana Addo’s creation of the Senior Minister portfolio.
Explaining at his vetting, Osarfo Marfo said that his core duty was to coordinate the roles of the various economic ministries in the new government.
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