President Mahama inaugurates Transition Team
The 24-member Transition Team constituted to oversee the smooth transition from the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration to the next NDC government, has been inaugurated by President John Mahama in Accra.
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Chaired by Vice-President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, the team comprises representatives of government, organised labour, civil society, the business community and traditional rulers.
The formation of the transition team is in accordance with the Presidential Transition Act, 2012 (Act 845).
Statutory members of the team are Mr Henry Martey Newman, the Chief of Staff; Mr James Bebaako Mensah, Secretary to the President; Mr Ben Eghan, Secretary to Cabinet; Dr Ben Kunbour, the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice; Dr. Kwabena Duffour, Minister for Finance; Mr William Aboah, Minister for the Interior; General J H Smith; Minister for Defence; Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister for Foreign Affairs; Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Minister for Local Government; Brigadier Nunoo Mensah; National Security Advisor, Lt. Colonel Larry Gbevlo Lartey, National Security Coordinator; Mr W.K. Kemevor, Head of the Civil Service and Mr Kwesi Oppong Fosu, Head of the Local Government Service,.
Other members are Mr P.V. Obeng, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission; Mr Roger Angsomwine; Chief Director at the Presidency, Mrs Elizabeth Joyce Villars, an industrialist, Daasebre Kwebu Ewusie III, President of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, Nana Soglo Alloh IV, Vice-president of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs, Dr Agyeman Badu Akosa, a medical practitioner, Mr A.K. Bonnie of the Trades Union Congress, Nana Oye Lithur, a human rights activist, Mr Vitus Azeem, Ghana Integrity Initiative, and Mr Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the NDC.
The President also inaugurated an Advisory Council chaired by the Speaker of Parliament, Mrs Joyce Bamford Addo, to supervise the work of the transition team.
Other members of the Advisory Council are Professor Akilagpa Swayerr, Board Chairman of the Volta River Authority and Professor Marian Ewurama Addy, a renowned scientist.
Mr Joseph Issachar is the Administrator-General of the transition team.
Inaugurating the transition team and the advisory council Wednesday, President Mahama said although the transition was to a government in power, it was based on the advice of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice that the team was put in place.
He said the transition team would, among other things, arrange for the inaugural ceremony on January 7, 2013. President Mahama said per the constitution, in a situation where members of the transition team could not arrive at a consensus with its decisions, the advisory council would advise on such matters.
In his remark, Vice-President Amissah-Arthur thanked President Mahama for the confidence reposed in the members and pledged to work judiciously to achieve their mandate on time.
He said the constitution of the transition team was part of the process of deepening democracy in Ghana.
A preliminary administrative meeting was to be held after the inauguration to determine the members to serve on the various sub-teams, while another meeting on the inaugural ceremony, was scheduled for the Flagstaff House on Friday.
The acrimony and administrative lapses which characterised the transition in 2001 and 2009 led to the drafting of the transitional bill by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), in collaboration with the Ghana Political Parties Programme.
Story by Musah Jafaru