The Association of Progressive African Governance (APAG) is urging the Council of State to ensure that President Akufo-Addo does not retain heads of institutions who are above the mandatory pension age.

In the petition signed by the group’s President, Dr. Osei McCarthy, APAG said the President’s advisors must in line with their duties counsel him on the need to ensure that the situation where Article 71 (1) of the constitution is breached is stopped.

This the group says will help the country make good use of its youthful population.

Again, they argued that it will ensure efficiency in the management of state institutions.

Find the full statement below:

PETITION TO CALL ON COUNCIL OF STATE TO BRIEF PRESIDENT ON THE NEED TO DO AWAY WITH CEOs AND APPOINTEES PAST RETIREMENT AGE AND SEEKING REAPPOINTMENT.

It is barely a week that you were sworn into office as venerable members of the Council of State by the President, His Excellency Nana AddoDankwaAkufo-Addo and our prayer is that your wisdom, grace and sage counsel will cement the foundation upon which the Nana Addo-led NPP government rests.

We therefore join the company of well-wishers to congratulate you, senior sons and daughters of our land in this endeavor and encourage your formidable council to heed to the call of the President to provide him with unvarnished truth. 

From this background, we respectfully throw the first challenge to your prestigious national advisory body to counsel the president to implement to the letter, the Public Service Act, which mandates public officers to retire from public service after attaining the age of 60 years. A directive, the president once applied to the admiration of many Ghanaians across the political divides which saw to the removal of some CEOs during the early days of 2019. 

We call on the Council of State to back the president in order to draw his ability to ensuring this progressive convention of public service where people proceed on leave mandatorily. 

Primarily, it is enshrined in the constitution of our land that public officials must retire at age 60. It is important to note however that, many public officials who are above the 60 years constitutional threshold for retirement have themselves still at post and are even seeking for reappointment in the President’s new government. 

While we take cognizance of the fact that the same constitution allows the President to extend the retirement of government officials, it is evident that most CEOs who are more than 60 years tend to lose steam; become more conservative which retards innovations and dynamism needed by these institutions. This practice also nurtures the culture of unwarranted extensions of appointment of public servants on contract basis.

Politically, Ghana and the NPP are largely a country and party made up of youths respectively, a good number of which after serving in several positions for so many years both personal and official and acquiring the required skills and experience to take over the top positions of those who are otherwise supposed to have been retired, are still pushed to sit out whiles their novel minds and ideas in turning around the economy remains untapped due to the old folks rooted in their positions. It is from this background we highly praise the contribution of all relatively younger minds who when given opportunity to serve, have excelled brilliantly at their respective areas of endeavor like H.E. DrMahamoudBawumia, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana.

Quite a sizable number of the Youth notably in the NPP, has expressed concerns in relations with the line of appointment of Ministers which gives them an idea of how subsequent appointments especially with that of CEOs will pan out to be. They fear, the same good old appointees are likely to be maintained. CEOs who are above 60 and are due for retirement but still in office in most cases become inclined to neglect the plight of the average citizen and their call for better policy pursuits that can assuage the worries of the youth. Isn’t it therefore mind boggling to see CEOs who supervise the retirement processes of their employees fail to do same when their time of retirement is anticipated?

It is from this angle of apprehension that we, as a group would like to fall on the Council of State to implore His Excellency President Nana AddoDankwa to ensure that Article 71 (1) of the 1992 Constitution is applied to the letter in the formation of his legacy government.

 As a group, we believe this will help maintain the efficient management of state institutions whiles allowing equally qualified persons to serve our motherland to their full potential and break the chain of novel minds going to waste whiles promoting the convention where leadership of state institutions motivate employees to proceed on retirement when due to create space for recruitment in the public sector. 

..SIGNED..

DrOsei McCarthy

President, Association of Progressive African Governance

(APAG)