Publishing presidential staffers list “major and catastrophic” security let-down - Pratt

Journalist Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has slammed the release of a list detailing names and designations of presidential staffers, saying the gaffe is a huge security let-down with far reaching implications.

He said it exposes the president to needless security risks and the implementation and enforcement of the law requiring it, needs to be reviewed.

It has “major and catastrophic security consequences for this country,” he insisted in contributions to discussions on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo programme on Friday.

He said as it stands now, details of every presidential staffer from the president to cleaner are out for public scrutiny, information he said, intelligence agencies around the world would pay fortunes to acquire.

Pratt said there is no question on the need for the presidency to be checked so it does not abuse its mandate, but that sensitive information should have gone to a security select committee and not made available to the general public because it exposes the president to great security risks.
 
Pratt also agreed that the size of government is too large and found it superfluous the apparent duplication of appointments, with deputies and special advisers and ancillary officers to virtually every substantive office, saying in an economic situation such as Ghana finds itself, it does not make sense.

“Little drops of water make a mighty ocean,” he underscored, arguing that Ghana could do with a smaller cortege of presidential staffers because the large numbers constitute a huge drain on national revenue.

According to Pratt, if nations with larger populations and budgets like the United States of America have fewer ministers than Ghana, then there is a problem. That issue, he said, deserves careful attention and should be discussed dispassionately. Click to listen to Kwesi Pratt.