Handover notes ready for next govt — Administrator-General

The Office of the Administrator-General (OAG) has said the handover notes covering the eight-year term of office of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo are ready to be presented to the President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, for a smooth transfer of power to the new administration.

“All notes are ready to be handed over, signed by the various heads of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), as well as metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs),” the Administrator-General, Joyce Wereko Ampim-Opoku, said.

She said her outfit, providing technical support, had collaborated with the Office of the President to ensure “a smooth and seamless” transition period and process.

In an exclusive interview, Mrs Ampim-Opoku, who appeared relaxed about the job on hand, said Ghana had a system of government assets administration and management “that works”.

During the interview, she appeared satisfied with her work over the years, as her staff put the final touches to the packaging of the current handover notes for onward submission to the President-elect.

She said the guidelines for the drafting of the handover notes had been reviewed and made better over the years.

Guidelines

Mrs Ampim-Opoku said the review of the guidelines in drafting the transitional handover notes and the use of the reviewed guidelines in the training of all institutional heads and agencies stipulated under the law, the drafting of the notes, quality assurance and finalisation, had improved the content of the notes and also standardised them across sectors, ministries, departments and agencies.

The process started at the beginning of the year, with the OAG working with the Office of the President (Presidential Office Act 1993 (Act 463), to provide technical and operational support, for getting the notes ready in line with (section 6(1) Presidential Transition Act 2012 (Act 845).

It states, “The office of the President shall prepare a set of comprehensive handing-over notes covering the term of office, of the President as the executive authority under article 58 of the Constitution.”

Thus, the 2024 transitional handover notes presented by law to the President-elect, Parliament, Judiciary, the Council of State and the Public Records Archives Administration Department (PRAAD), according to section 7(2) (1) of the Presidential Transition Act 2012 (Act 845), were much enhanced and standardised.

She stressed that her office was one of the offices under the governance machinery, charged under Act 845 with the duty of providing technical assistance to all heads under the executive arm of the government to draft the notes.

When asked about how the final notes were verified, Mrs Ampim-Opoku said the law had in-built mechanisms to check that.

Apart from the guidelines furnished and all the training, administrative business was captured in administrative notes in the various MDAs, and the MMDAs were confirmatory source documents.

Principally, however, the appending of the signatures of the heads of MDAs and MMDAs to the notes committed them to ensure that what was in the notes was what really pertained.

“And that function of signing the handing over notes as head of an MDA or MMDA cannot be adjudicated,” she stressed.

Assets

On the assets of the government, Mrs Ampim-Opoku said by Sections 9 (B) and 8 (1) of Act 845, the office had an inventory of all assets and vehicles, which it had collated over the years to date.

Currently, the office is updating the list and taking stock as stipulated in the law.

Act 845 Section 9(1)(b)(i) states that “The Administrator-General (b) shall conduct a stock-taking exercise in the presence of the head of the household, of the official assets in the official residence and in the personal or private residence of the President, Vice-President and each of the ministers, 30 days before the person elected as President assumes office and before the incumbent president leaves office.”

Officers from the office, she said, were on the field updating what information was in her possession, she added.

She said prior to that, her office had written to MDAs and the Office of the President to be furnished with a list of non-political office holders and all persons whose tenures of appointment would end with the current administration for details of any government assets allocated them, including vehicles, residencies or other items such as furnishings of residencies.

All that information had also been given and attested to by the chief directors, by they appending their signatures.

“That is the comfort of what is happening now,” Mrs Ampim-Opoku stated.

She gave an assurance that her office had worked hard, in collaboration with the Office of the President and all other MMDAs and MDAs, to ensure a smooth and seamless transition from the day of the announcement of the President-elect, John Dramani Mahama, to the day of his swearing-in as President.

Context

The rancour characterising the transition of political power led to civil society organisations championing a Presidential Transition law, which was passed in 2012.