Frank Raji and Fati Lily Soale
A DIRECTIVE for the Director of Finance and General Administration to act as Chief Director at the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs is causing a lot of apprehension and anxiety among the civil servants at the ministry.
As a result, some of the staff have begun whispering that this is a grand scheme to undermine the sovereignty of the civil service.
They have accused the sector minister, Ebenezer Kojo-Kum, of trying to manipulate the Civil Service by directing Fati Lily Soale, to act as Chief Director of the ministry, when the Head of Civil Service has appointed another person.
In August 2022, Nana K. Agyekum-Dwamena, who heads the Civil Service, reassigned Frank A. Raji, a director at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, to the Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs Ministry to act as Chief Director.
The posting was to take effect from Thursday, September 1, 2022, but the officer could not assume duty because the office was put under lock and key.
Subsequently, the staff were notified in a letter signed by the sector minister that he had directed Ms. Fati Lily Soale to stand in as the Acting Chief Director for the ministry until further notice.
The minister, in a memo dated August 17, 2022, also directed the Project Benefit, Monitoring and Evaluation (PBME) Director to take over the Finance and General Administration Directorate with immediate effect.
“This is to enable control and effective discharge of the responsibilities of the schedule,” part of the letter stated.
This follows the retirement of the Chief Director, Benjamin Afful, whose contract appointment as Chief Director ended on August 16, 2022.
He was expected to hand over the bureaucratic leadership of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs to the incoming Director, and who shall act as the Chief Director on August 29, 2022.
But DAILY GUIDE sources indicated that Frank A. Raji was prevented from taking his office, while staff at the directorate, including the Secretary, were relocated, amidst victimisation.
By Ernest Kofi Adu