Disclosure Of Names Of Presidential Staffers; A Security Threat Says Kwesi Pratt

Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr says Section 11 of the 1992 Constitution and the Presidential Office Act 1993 which enjoins the Presidency to annually brief Parliament on the list of persons who work at the Presidency can bring a curse than a blessing to the country. According to him, the list exposes staff at the presidency to possible attacks. A list of 678 presidential staffers at the Flagstaff House was submitted to Parliament in accordance to Section 11 of the Presidential Act 1993 (Act 463). The list included ministers of state at the presidency, persons working directly at the office of the president, senior presidential advisers, presidential staffers, presidential aides, Gardeners, night watchmen, and household staff. It also included chief directors, staff from the Ghana Health Service, Controller and Accountant General�s Department, among others. �I don�t know why this law was established. The enforcement of this law has major and catastrophic security consequences for this country. The list contains detailed information of every staff at the presidency and it is available for scrutiny not only by Ghanaians but by everybody across the world. This is information intelligent services around the world spend fortunes looking for. But as for us, because of democracy and transparency we have to disclose it,� he told Kwami Sefa Kayi, host of PeaceFM�s �Kokrokoo� in a tone filled with obvious displeasure. According to him, the list should have been sent to a Select Committee of Parliament. He added that in as much as Ghanaians might want to be privy to everything that the government is doing or intends to do, �we have to do it in such a way that we do not expose the presidency to security risk. Every security expert will tell you that the full publication of this list has serious security implications for the presidency and the country.�