Revealed: Fear And Panic At Flagstaff House

The seat of the President, Flagstaff house, in Accra, has virtually become a haunted place for some persons who run around to get government business moving.

Some players at the presidency are in constant fear and panic because of the presence of the Chief of Staff, Mr. Prosper Douglas Ban, the Enquirer has heard.

Last week, there was ecstatic mood at the place following wild rumour that the man who is to supervise appointees of president Mahama had been fired.

The rumour gained currency at the time because of the suspected resignation of Dr. Raymond Atuguba, who was serving as the Executive Secretary to the President, and Mr. Ben Dotse Malor, who was the Director of Communication at the presidency.

It was all over that the two resigned because the Chief of Staff would not give them the free hand to operate effectively in the areas they were appointed to oversee. Interestingly, government quickly denied that the two had resigned, but rather the period they were engaged had expired.

It was Mr. Bani, who signed and issued a statement to the effect that the two had not resigned.

However, when the rumour of the firing of Mr. Bani was heard by staff at the presidency, there was wild jubilation. Insiders at the presidency have it that even staff at the Chief of Staff Secretariat were happy to see his back.

Having come out with a clean head, Mr. Bani according to insiders has vowed to deal with the staff at the Presidency.

Mr. Bani before the rumour of his sack had caused a serious blunder within the Custom, Excise and preventive Service (CEPS) by effecting promotions at the time President John Dramani Mahama was in faraway Ethiopia, attending the Africa union summit.

Insiders have it that the promotion of the CEPS officials was done by the Chief of Staff without consulting the appropriates quarters. It later emerged that there were laid down procedure and processes for such promotions, but the Chief of Staff threw them to dogs.

The promotions were immediately reversed when the President returned home from Ethiopia.

In fact, the staff at the Presidency have time and again complained about how Mr. Bani is virtually “Jack of all trade but master of none.

Insiders have it that there were numerous clashes between Mr. Bani and Dr. Atuguba when Mr. Bani consistently poked his nose into the affairs of Dr. Atuguba. It is not clear whether that speculation to the effect that Mr. Bani has the backing of the First Lady, Mrs. Lordina Mahama, is true or not.

In recent times, the Chief of Staff is always out with the President on his rounds and that has prompted some NDC bigwigs to question the time that the Chief of Staff would have to do his office work.

On a lighter note, insider at the Presidency has it that the Chief of Staff can only identify two regional NDC party chairmen, those of Greater Accra and Volta Regions. The insiders have it that Mr. Bani’s human relations was so bad that people run for cover anytime they hear he is around.