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Members of Parliament are demanding that President Akuffo-Addo makes available to the house a full list of Presidential Staffers immediately as required by law.

They say it has taken too much time for the President to submit the list to parliament.

Section 11 of the Presidential Office Act, 1993 (Act 463), requires that the President submits to parliament a report on the staffing at the Office of the President. On the floor of Parliament on Friday, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu demanded that government respects the laws of the country and submit the list to the house.

Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu agreed, saying, “the Minority Leader is saying that the house must demand it (list of staffers)…I think that is a matter of course…before we adjourn on December 22. 

"I think we should request for that information to satisfy ourselves about the expenditure involved with the staff at the Flag Staff House,” he said

NDC MP for Builsa South Dr Clement Apaak has since filed an urgent question demanding answers from government on why the list hasn’t been provided.

“I have filed the question…I hope we give it the needed attention so we can put this matter to rest. It is a requirement of the law,” he explained to Joy News.

“Knowing this helps the public discourse as we look at the governance of our nation particularly to look at matters of transparency and accountability… We have the right to know because it has implications for public expenditure,” he added.

In February 2014, former President John Mahama submitted a list of 678 employees at the presidency to Parliament prompting critisms by the then opposition New Patriotic Party that the figure was too huge.

“When we were in government, the then opposition party now in government made a big deal out of the list of presidential staffers. And we admitted and provided the list. So if the time has changed, it’s only fair that we know too,” Dr Apak said.

The Builsa South MP is advocating for a standardization of the list of presidential staffers so it’s not abused by any government. He believes a list of about 600 will be perfect to run the presidency but suspects the Akuffo-Addo administration will have a higher figure than that.

“On the basis of the fact that we have 110 ministers, I won’t be surprised if the list turns out to be the biggest list in the history of the fourth republic as far as staff at the office of the president is concerned.

"But the onus lies on government to provide the list so that any speculation can be put to rest,” he noted.