The government has revoked the appointments of about 541 persons who were taken in by the erstwhile few months before it bowed out of office after the 2024 elections.

The revocation sparked wide concerns and backlash, particularly from the Minority in Parliament. Their leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, described the move as unfair and politically motivated.

Addressing the media in response to the misconception about the mass appointment revocation, he explained why the government decided to revoke the appointments of 541 persons who were appointed by the then outgoing Akufo-Addo administration.

In a statement read during the Government Accountability Series on March 3, Mr Ofosu said the decision was taken after a thorough investigation by a committee set up by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

Please read full statement below:

STATEMENT ON THE REVOCATION OF APPOINTMENTS AND RECRUITMENTS MADE AFTER 7TH DECEMBER, 2024.

Good afternoon, friends from the media, and thank you very much for honouring our invitation to this week’s instalment of the Government Accountability Series.

It would be recalled, that at the very first meeting of the Joint Transition Team formed after the 2024 elections, on 17th December, 2024, the side of the incoming Government raised concern about reports of rushed and unlawful recruitments being made into public institutions in the immediate aftermath of the elections and substantial payments to contractors and other creditors.

The incoming Government’s side of the Transition Team left the meeting under the clear impression that an agreement had been reached by both sides for all ongoing recruitments, promotions, significant statutory payments, and related activities to be submitted for the joint Team’s review.

Following the total disregard of this agreement by the outgoing Government, I authored a statement on behalf of the incoming Government stating our intent to revoke all such appointments and subjecting same to thorough investigations.

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On 10th February 2025, the Chief of Staff issued a letter directing that all appointments and recruitments made unlawfully after 7th December, 2024 should be revoked.

Shortly after, reports filtered in that some persons who were lawfully employed before 7th December, 2025 or whose recruitment processes had commenced but had not been concluded before the elections also had their appointments revoked.

To ensure fairness and prevent innocent persons from suffering unduly, the Chief of Staff, established a Committee to investigate all affected recruitments, appointments and promotions, assess their compliance with established public sector processes, and make recommendations. The members of the committee were: Nana Oye Bampoe Addo – Deputy Chief of Staff and Chairperson of the Committee; Dr. Prince Edward Darah – Commissioner, Public Service Commission; Ms Roda Gavor – Director HR, Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment; Mr. Bernard Adjei – Representative of Organized Labour; Mr. C.W. Ayiku – Secretary, Director, Finance and Administration, Office of The President.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Committee were as follows:

Determine whether the prescribed procedures for recruitment and promotion were followed in the recruitments and promotions made after 7thEstablish the dates on which the process leading to these recruitments and promotions commenced and ended.Identify and categorise recruitments and promotions that complied with the stipulated procedures and those that did not.Provide case-by-case recommendations for the Government’s consideration.Based on the ToR, the Committee developed a checklist of indicators to assess whether the cases under investigation complied with the prescribed processes for recruitment, appointments and promotion. The committee set the passmark for procedural compliance at 80%. The Committee also requested relevant documentation and interviewed appropriate officers in the Organisations concerned. The documents and information requested by the Committee included:

Evidence of declaration of vacancyCopy of advertisementCopy of approved scheme of serviceCopy of technical clearanceCopy of financial clearanceCopy of interview reportCopy of appointment letterCopy of acceptance letterCopy of payslip (where necessary)The Committee’s work spanned 21st March, 2025 to 30th April 2025. It received 43 reports from institutions and individual petitioners. Of the 43 institutions, 36 appeared before the Committee as follows:

Remove adsInstitutions that appeared before the committeeOffice of the Administrator-GeneralGhana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICTGhana Post Company LimitedGhana Revenue AuthorityGhana Ports and Harbours AuthorityGhana Shippers’ AuthorityNational Health Insurance AuthorityOffice of the Head of Local Government ServiceMinistry of Gender, Children and Social ProtectionMinistry of Energy and Green TransitionMinistry of Food and AgricultureOffice of the Attorney-General and Ministry of JusticePetroleum CommissionPublic Procurement AuthorityNational Communications AuthorityGhana Meteorological AgencyNorthern Electricity Distribution CompanyNational Pensions Regulatory AuthorityTema Oil RefineryMinistry of HealthGhana National Gas CompanyVolta River AuthorityBui Power AuthorityGhana TVET ServiceGhana Investments Promotion CentreElectoral CommissionGaming Commission of GhanaAircraft Accident and Incident Investigation and Prevention BureauGhana Maritime AuthorityPSC Tema Shipyard LimitedGhana Civil Aviation AuthorityMetro Mass Transit LimitedSD Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development StudiesMinerals Income Investment FundSocial Security an National Insurance TrustUniversity of Energy and Natural Resources

Some affected Individuals submitted petitions about the revocation of their appointments to the following organisations;Forest Plantation Development FundNational Investment Bank (NIB)National Development Planning CommissionGhana Exim BnakGCB BankVolta Lake Transport Company LimitedGhana Investment Fund for Electronic CommunicationsCollective Petition from the NDC Disability Desk.

At the end of its work, the Committee made the following recommendations findings.Of the thirty-six (36) institutions that appeared before the committee, twenty-eight (28) had commenced the recruitment process before the 7th December directive.A total of nineteen (19) institutions REVOKED appointments made in response to the 7th of December 2024 revocation directive.Seventeen (17) institutions did not revoke their appointments but sought guidance from the President’s Office.Sixteen of the cases reported by the institutions were mainly payroll-related.In total, two thousand and eighty (2,080) recruitments, appointments and promotions were reported by the institutions when they appeared before the Committee.Of these 2,080 recruitments, appointments and promotions, 879 were revoked by the institutions themselves, while 1,201 appointments were not revoked.After the hearing, the Committee recommended that 1,539 of the recruitments, appointments and promotions be upheld, complied with the prescribed recruitment and promotion procedures and received appointments letters before 7th December, 2024. This implies that they achieved a pass mark of 80% or above.

The Committee recommended that the recruitments, appointments and promotions of 541 persons be revoked because the recruitment processes ended after 7th December, 2024 and failed to meet the pass mark.

AdvertisementAlso, the number of recruitments, appointments and promotions recommended for revocation by the committee (541) was lower than the number that the institutions themselves revoked (879). This is because the committee paid special attention to vulnerable groups, including Persons with Disabilities, particularly within the Ghana Education Service.

Obviously, the recruitments, appointments and promotions revoked were made in clear breach of procedures and directives issued during the transition period and did not comply with the Regulatory Framework and Guidelines for Recruitments, Appointments and Promotions in the Public Service.

Hence, the decision to revoke these appointments was not a witch-hunt and had no political motive beyond a desire to uphold due process and ensure compliance with the rules and proper procedures governing such recruitments and appointment. It was done without malice or ill-feeling towards anyone.

It was a necessary step to uphold the rule of law and ensure accountability. The previous government was fully aware that basic requirements were not met in those cases and still went ahead to sanctions same. They completely disregarded the incoming administration when we requested to be consulted on same leaving us no choice but to carry out this review.