The variety of political appointees at President Mahama’s Jubilee Home in 2025 was 124 fewer than the final revealed determine by the Akufo-Addo authorities in 2023.
However the Workplace of the President’s remuneration invoice is predicted to greater than double, rising from £100m in 2025 to £248m in 2026, elevating questions on whether or not a smaller Presidency essentially prices much less to run.
Underneath Part 11 of the Workplace of the President Act 1993 (Act 463), the Workplace of the President is required to submit an annual report back to Parliament detailing staffing.
In March 2026, the Workplace of the President submitted a 2025 staffing report in response.
In keeping with the report, there have been 4 ministers of state, 39 senior presidential employees members, and 190 different political appointees, generally known as junior political appointees, within the presidential palace.
In 2025, President Mahama had a complete of 233 political appointees in his presidential workplace.
For comparability, the latest information revealed below the earlier administration is from 2023.
The FY2024 staffing report, which was alleged to be submitted by March 2025 after the change of presidency, has not been made public.
It stays unclear whether or not this report was submitted by President Mahama in 2025 and, if that’s the case, what number of staffers served within the presidential place in the course of the closing 12 months of former President Akufo-Addo’s time period.
The absence of a 2024 report additionally means there are not any publicly out there benchmarks to evaluate how staffing ranges modified in the course of the transition interval between the 2 administrations.
The 2023 report lists one secretary of state, 43 senior presidential employees members, and 313 lower-level political appointees.
The quantity reached 357 political appointees.
The presidential workplace lowered the variety of political appointees by 124 in comparison with the present 233.
This can be a vital discount.
Nevertheless, a more in-depth take a look at President Mahama’s appointments means that this classification might underestimate the variety of senior-level appointees.
There seem like not less than 11 junior political appointees with duties broadly related to people who the Akufo-Addo authorities categorized as senior presidential employees.
Amongst them are:
- Nathan Kofi Boakye – Director of Operations, Workplace of the President
- Goosie Tanoh – Presidential Advisor, 24 Hour Financial and Export Improvement Acceleration
- Priscilla Santuo-Okra – Presidential Employees of the Sustainable Improvement Objectives (SDGs) Secretariat
- Khalid Sharif Mahmud – Coverage Advisor for Financial Affairs, Vice President’s Secretariat
- Dr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo – Coverage Advisor, Vice President’s Secretariat
- Dr. Peter Boama Otoknolu – Director of the President’s Initiative in Agriculture and Agribusiness
- Mansa Amoah Awua – Coverage Advisor for Finance, Workplace of the Vice President’s Secretariat
A few of these positions seem like broadly equal to roles that the earlier administration categorized as senior appointments, comparable to Director of Operations, Assistant to the President on the Financial system, and Assistant to the President on Sustainable Improvement Objectives.
The distinction might merely be a distinction in administration construction.
Whereas President Mahama seems to have decentralized some advisory features to the Skilled Secretariat and the Workplace of the Vice President, the Akufo-Addo authorities has concentrated many of those features inside the Presidency itself, classifying them as senior appointments.
If these positions have been categorized utilizing the identical method because the earlier administration, the variety of senior presidential employees would improve from 39 to about 50, exceeding the 43 recorded in 2023.
Deliberately or not, this classification has the impact of conserving the official variety of senior presidential employees beneath the degrees recorded below the earlier administration.
So the headline numbers solely inform a part of the story.
Though the president has clearly lowered the variety of political appointees, the classification of some positions complicates comparisons with the earlier administration.
One other fascinating statement considerations the working prices of the presidency.
Though the NDC disagrees, it regularly criticizes the scale of the presidency, arguing that the massive variety of appointees imposes excessive prices on the state by means of salaries, allowances and journey bills.
The newest funds statistics paint an fascinating image.
The entire variety of presidential employees, together with political appointees, civil servants, and subordinate civil servants, was 808 as of 2025.
As of 2023, the whole variety of staff shall be 921.
This equates to a discount of 113 staff.
Nevertheless, compensation prices are a distinct story.
The presidential remuneration reached GH¢125 million in 2023 and elevated to GH¢153 million in 2024. It then decreased to GH¢100 million in 2025, most likely reflecting reductions in employees numbers.
Nevertheless, the 2026 funds is predicted to offer Gigawon 248 million in compensation.
This is a rise of roughly 148% in a single 12 months.
An apparent query arises right here. Why is remuneration anticipated to extend so quickly when employees numbers are reducing?
One attainable clarification is that the 2025 compensation figures don’t totally mirror the subsequently authorised Modification 71 salaries.
The brand new pay construction will reportedly see MPs earn round £60,000 a month, with ministers incomes related quantities.
Senior presidential employees members are usually paid on the identical degree as ministers, however the pay ranges of many junior political appointees match these of deputy ministers.
One other risk is that staffing ranges have elevated because the finish of 2025, and this improve is mirrored in a rise in compensation distribution in 2026.
At this stage, there’s inadequate data to find out which clarification is extra correct.
The 2025 staffing report due to this fact reveals two seemingly contradictory developments.
The presidential workplace considerably lowered the variety of political appointees and the general employees.
Nevertheless, compensation prices are anticipated to skyrocket.
The lower within the variety of staff is noticeable.
However the reclassification of some positions and sharp will increase in compensation prices counsel that the true prices of operating the presidency could also be extra complicated than headline employees cuts counsel.
