Government has been ostensibly hamstrung by some last-minute contracts signed by the Mahama administration, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Marfo has revealed.
The Mahama administration came under intense criticism for what was described as midnight decisions to contract and recruit for and on behalf of the country within the last two weeks of its lifespan.
Speaking at an Institute of Economic Affairs ( IEA) review of the 2017 Presidential Transition, the Senior Minister said the Attorney General’s Office was in the process of reviewing all last-minute contracts of the previous administration in a process he described as “a complete waste of effort and man hours.”
“We shouldn’t haven’t have done them in the first instance,” Mr. Osafo-Maafo stressed.
“One of the problems we are facing as a new government are the many contracts which were signed within the last 14 days and not only within the centre but in institutions like COCOBOD and if you don’t take care, you will run the country into all kinds of judgement debts because these agreements have also been signed and maybe are legally binding.”
“You can’t just come and say abrogate them. Some of the conditions are such that you cannot implement them because they are not in the interest of the state so what do we do? We are taking these contracts one by one and under the able leadership of our Attorney General, we are looking at them,” he said.
Concerns over last-minute contracts were raised by the Akufo-Addo administration’s side of the Transition team with the Mr. Osafo-Maafo, who was co-chair of the Transition team, serving notice the incoming government would review such contracts.
There were initially some indications that both sides of the transition team had reached a compromise regarding the signing of new contracts and other decisions with major financial implications as the Mahama administration was to take all such decisions in consultation with the Akufo-Addo administration.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana