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0 Former CEO of Cal Bank, Frank Adu Jnr, has warned President John Mahama to ensure that political appointees in his administration deliver on their mandates or be removed from office.
Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express on Monday, June 30, he said persistent underperformance in key sectors stems from a dangerous culture where appointees are shielded from accountability because of their political affiliations.
“It is early days yet,” the renowned banker said, “but President Mahama has to be mindful of how his appointees deliver.”
He noted that while there has been some recent stability in the cedi, which “allows for planning,” the bigger challenge lies in keeping political promises made during campaigns, a task complicated by the way appointees are selected and managed.
“So far so good,” Mr Adu Jnr added, “but the difficulty is in keeping those promises, and the kind of political system we are operating in this country basically forces contestants to make promises, and then when they come, they have a difficulty meeting those promises.”
He expressed deep concern about the entrenched culture of impunity among political appointees, describing it as a systemic flaw that obstructs performance-based governance.
“I have not seen or heard in the past probably 18 years, any minister of a sector or a president criticise or question an appointee for non-performance,” he said. “And you know why? It’s because all these appointees are political affiliates.”
The former CEO explained that once a political campaign ends, those who contributed are often rewarded with appointments, but when they fail to deliver, they remain untouchable because of their ties to the political establishment.
“So if the person, let’s say any of the parastatals — let’s say VRA or ECG — the CEO being a political appointee is not performing, it’s very difficult for the sector minister… to take on the MD of VRA for non-performance.”
Mr Adu Jnr argued that this loyalty-first approach weakens the ability of governments to function effectively.
“Anytime there’s a problem in any sector, any ministry, you find the party, the minister, defending the position…or the mismanagement.”
He described the practice as fundamentally anti-meritocratic.
“The more noise you make whilst in the position, the likely…your chance of becoming a CEO or ambassador or a minister…That is not a meritocracy.”
He pointed to the Akufo-Addo administration as an example of what happens when appointees are not held accountable.
“That happened under Akufo-Addo. You take the SIGA companies, all these parastatals — which one of them performed? Maybe SIC, they paid dividends, etcetera.”
Mr. Adu Jnr concluded that without a shift toward performance-driven appointments, President Mahama and any incoming government risk repeating the same cycle of promises without progress.
