A senior Political Science lecturer says last minute contracts being signed by the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) breaches the spirit of the Presidential Transition Act (845).
Professor Ransford Gyampo said “one of the spirits behind the law is transparency and continuity, adding acts that undermine that purpose should be eliminated.
Transition Committee members of President-elect, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said they were not happy with reports that government was awarding contracts at a time it is preparing to hand over power.
Head of the President-elect’s team, Yaw Osafo Marfo has cautioned government to be mindful about contracts it signs on behalf of the state as it could affect the fortunes of the country.
“We need to be cautious, we need to be transparent, we need to be candid and we need to be factual,” he urged.
However, the spokesperson for outgoing government Transition team, Hannah Tetteh explained that government is a continuum and its works could not grind to a halt because of an incoming government.
She said government would consider the concerns put forth by the incoming government.
Professor Gyampo who is a fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) said the outgoing NDC government has to be transparent to the incoming government in its dealings.
“You do not give handover notes to an incoming administration while you go behind to secretly sign contracts,” he said.
The lecturer, believes that government could sign contracts but it has to be done with the full knowledge of the incoming government.
“If life and death contracts have to be signed, it has to be done with the transition committee in the know,” he stressed.
This, he said has to be done in order to avoid issues of judgement debt which might crop up if the incoming government abrogates a contract it feels uncomfortable with.
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