Aftermath of govt directive: Minority condemns job terminations - But Majority Leader says govt stands by decision

Heads of state institutions have annulled the appointments and recruitments of all persons who were employed into public services after December 7, 2024, the Minority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, has told Parliament.

He said those who were dismissed were issued with termination letters to go home in compliance with a directive from the Office of the President for such appointments to be revoked.

The Minority Leader said the letter, dated February 10, 2025, and titled: “Revocation of appointments and recruitments made after December 7, 2024”, required heads of state institutions to take the necessary steps to annul such appointments or recruitment and submit a comprehensive report on the actions taken to the Office of the President by February 17, 2025.

In a statement read on the floor of Parliament last Friday, Mr Afenyo-Markin said per the letter, the Chief of Staff said all the appointments and recruitments after December 7, 2024, were not in compliance with established good governance practices and principles.

“Mr Speaker, pursuant to the letter, state institutions have been issuing termination letters, revoking appointments and causing a lot of traumas to the youth who have been employed by the state,” he said.

The Minority Leader informed the House that he had seen letters from the Ghana Revenue Authority, Ghana Water Ltd, the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) and Ghana Health Service where workers, particularly health professionals and teachers, had been given letters to go home.

Mr Afenyo-Markin argued that recruitment was not an event but a process, and it did not take just a day for an institution to call people and give them employment letters.

In Parliament, for example, he said, recruitment into the Parliamentary Service started as far back as June to August 2024, and it was only around January 2025 that some people received their appointment letters.

“They go through interviews, do aptitude tests and have to pass medicals; so, knowing honourable Julius Debrah, perhaps he meant well, and this is somebody I respect.

“I do not think the intendment of this letter was for state institutions to dismiss and revoke appointments. I believe that perhaps some clarity would have to be given,” the Minority Leader said.

“If he says that in the interest of good governance practices, all appointments after December 7 should be revoked, is it the argument that even where the process had started and the time that you are given your letter, it is post-December 7 so you should lose your jobs?,”he asked.

Contradictory stance  

Drawing on history, the Minority Leader cited the position of the former President then, John Dramani Mahama, on May 26, 2017, when recruits into public service were sacked.

“Bad precedent for our governance: Mass sacking of workers by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is unacceptable.

These workers are all citizens and, like all Ghanaians, have rights which must be protected,” he quoted President Mahama as saying.

Mr Afenyo-Markin said although the NPP government had intended to scrutinise those recruitments by the previous administration, no Ghanaian worker was sent home.

“There were recruitments at the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) but not a single one of them was sent home, and I say this on authority,” he said, citing other state institutions such as the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) where the government had done recruitment but workers were protected.

“The explanation was that the process had started before December 7, and former President Mahama raised this matter,” he recalled.

Juxtaposing President Mahama’s position of 2017 with his current posture, Mr Afenyo-Markin said recruitment into the Ghana Immigration Service saw Ghanaian youth go through training after December 7, 2024, and it was former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo who presided over the parade in March 2024.  

“Mr Speaker, let us be very careful as a nation; the goodwill our friends have must not erode rather too early or rather too soon.

“I know Mr Julius Debrah is a private person and a businessman who knows how when somebody is employed, it adds value to the economy, and so I do not think he had intended that people who have gone through aptitude tests and interviews should be sent home,” he argued. 

We stand by our decisions

Responding, the Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, told the House that the government stood by its decision to review and reverse post-December 7, 2024 appointments and recruitments into public services.

He said the recruitment processes for the thousands of jobs were not properly advertised to ensure fairness and equity in job opportunities.

He explained that at the joint Transition Team meetings, outgoing ministers were prevailed upon to hold on with the recruitment process due to the financial burden it would impose on the public purse, but they declined.

“And so, if you, at the time they, were cautioning you to be circumspect with your recruitment exercise during the transition and you said you would do it, what makes you think that today we will allow those recruitments,” Mr Ayariga asked.

Good governance

The Majority Leader described the directive by the Chief of Staff to heads of institutions to review and reverse appointments after December 7 as “proper and consistent with good governance”.

“We will review the recruitment that took place, and we will reverse them as indicated. What happened was wrong, and Ghanaians expect us to correct what was wrong.”

“What was wrong yesterday is wrong today; what you did yesterday which is wrong must be corrected today,” Mr Ayariga said, stressing, “We cannot allow it to stand; we on this side of the House stand by it, and we will push it and make sure that fairness exists in the public sector”.