GOVERNANCE AUTHORITIES HAIL TRANSITION PROCESS (P.20) 15-01-09

Story: Kofi Yeboah
THE ongoing transition process of transferring power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been hailed by authorities of governance and democratic institutions.
In separate interviews with the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Administrator of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Mrs Jean Mensa, and the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, described the transition process as very successful and cordial.
They, however, expressed reservations, particularly about reports that vehicles belonging to some NPP bigwigs were being seized by some NDC activists on the premise that the vehicles belonged to the state.
This is the second time under the Fourth Republic that a transition process is taking place to transfer power from an elected political party to a previous ruling political party.
In 2001, the outgoing NDC administration handed over to the NPP regime in a similar fashion.
Mrs Mensa described the hand over of immovable assets last Monday as very cordial.
She was happy to observe that the two parties recognised the importance of the Transition Bill drafted by the IEA and had been applying provisions in the document in the transition process.
Mrs Mensa said a lot of thought had gone into the bill, which she described as “the baby of all the political parties”, adding that “it’s actually very pleasing to note that there is a lot of emphasis on handing-over notes”.
She lauded the decision of the two parties to extend the transition period to the end of this month, explaining that the long period of hand over would afford them enough time to read through documents and thereby ensure a smooth transition.
On the seizure of vehicles from NDC activists, Mrs Mensa described the situation as rather unfortunate and one that could create tension in the country.
She recommended the establishment of a Presidential Estate Unit headed by an Administrator General with the powers of an Appeal’s Court Judge to address such problems in the future. Such a unit should be equipped with an inventory of all state assets to track them during transition periods.
Mrs Mensa said if the service regulation permitted outgoing government officials to acquire their official vehicles, then doing so should not be considered as anything untoward or a violation of the law.
With respect to the statement made by President Mills asking for time to name his Cabinet, the IEA Administrator said the President was well on track, because he needed time to think through the selection of his Cabinet.
For his part, Dr Akwetey said it was important to give the President enough time to appoint Ministers of State, pointing out that there was no need to rush.
He said the transition process had gone very well, although information on it had been sketchy.
On the seizure of vehicles from NPP activists, Dr Akwetey associated himself with comments made by the Chairman of the NDC Transition Team, Mr Paul Victor Obeng, that the action was unauthorised.
He, however, noted that the directive should have come earlier to dismiss speculations.